Providers

Joseph Alvarnas, MD, vice president of government affairs at City of Hope and chief clinical adviser of AccessHope in Duarte, California, discusses the recently passed Cancer Care Equity Act in California that provides access to clinical trials and advanced care for Medi-Cal beneficiaries.

The quest to deliver better cancer care—with better outcomes and patient experience—is not a one-size-fits-all journey, as seen in panels during the Community Oncology Alliance (COA) Payer Exchange Summit, held in Tyson’s Corner, Virginia.

Having a plan in place to educate providers and the pharmacy team has contributed to the success that Rocky Mountain Cancer Centers (RMCC) has had with rapidly implementing biosimilars, said Timothy Murphy, MD, medical oncologist/hematologist with RMCC.

Patients with young-onset Parkinson disease experience significant emotional burden that is exacerbated by unmet educational needs.

It is unclear what role treatment plays in affecting hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) risk, the authors found.

In an interview, the section chief of hepatology at Rush University Medical Center discussed why the addition of the International Classification of Diseases, Tenth Revision, Clinical Modification (ICD-10-CM) diagnosis code K76.82 is necessary.

The FDA’s approval of teclistamab for relapsed/refractory (R/R) multiple myeloma makes it the first bispecific T-cell engager antibody to enter the treatment landscape.

Jason Ezra Hawkes, MD, MS, FAAD, board-certified dermatologist and associate professor of dermatology at the University of California Davis in Sacramento, discussed how prior authorizations and other insurance requirements are limiting treatment access in atopic dermatitis and how dermatologists can help ameliorate these approval issues.

Athena Gierbolini, president of Hope for HS, a nonprofit advocacy group for those affected with hidradenitis suppurativa (HS), spoke on common stigmas regarding HS and how clinicians can improve consultation through a culturally sensitive approach.

A systematic review found that changes in neural mechanisms as a result of ketamine treatment could play a role in treatment outcomes of ketamine-assisted psychotherapy.

Improved outcomes associated with fidaxomicin compared with vancomycin suggest benefits from its greater use in Medicare patients, although uptake remains low despite its recommended use.

A study of women and girls from families with hemophilia in Thailand assessed the emotional impact of a carrier diagnosis and emphasized the value of comprehensive management.

According to the study authors, acute decompensated pulmonary hypertension (PH) is often accompanied by systemic congestion and right ventricular flow output, and because PH can be accompanied by acute kidney injury, renal replacement therapy (RRT) may be necessary.

Informal caregivers of people with Parkinson disease residing in the United Kingdom discussed challenges faced in providing care during the COVID-19 pandemic, which included risk of infection, lack of access to care, and the impact of lockdown on engaging in activities of daily living.

Because of its often slowly progressive nature, dementia is often included among chronic disease management programs. Yet, for many reasons, its management demands different approaches.

Melissa O'Connor, PhD, MBA, RN, FGSA, FAAN, endowed professor in Community and Home Health Nursing, M. Louise Fitzpatrick School of Nursing, Villanova University, and director, Gerontology Interest Group, discussed several policy needs for home health care, including improved caregiver support, updated eligibility criteria for in-home care, and reimbursement for telehealth.

The new law will expand access for Medi-Cal patients who receive a complex cancer diagnosis and represents a critical first step in fulfilling the promise of the California Cancer Patients Bill of Rights, a resolution adopted by the legislature in 2021.

New research is identifying the recipient and donor factors that allow for greater longevity for certain livers after transplantation.

Blacks and Hispanics with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) are more than twice as likely to have severe outcomes from COVID-19 compared with White patients with SLE, a new study has found.

Despite known racial disparities in access to advanced heart failure (HF) treatments, the reasons for this continue to require further exploration. In this new study, investigators searched for associations between ventricular assist device use and heart transplant and race (Black or White).

The goal of this new study was to gain more information on the disease burden, including costs, of patients living with chronic rhinosinusitis with nasal polyps (CRSwNP).

CDC's latest Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report showed that US adults of non-Hispanic Black, American Indian or Alaska Native, and Hispanic race/ethnicity exhibited significantly higher influenza hospitalization rates and lower vaccination coverage compared with White adults.

The latest updates in lung cancer screening guidelines will help address disparities in certain populations, but multiple barriers including access to programs and payer coverage remain issues.

Youths and young adults are the target demographic of sleek, colorful e-cigarette devices with flavorful nicotine.

Compared with Ethiopia’s current nonmandatory hepatitis B vaccination program, expanded vaccination coverage among health care workers was shown to be more cost-effective and result in improved life expectancy gains.

In the Roger C. Bone Memorial Lecture in Critical Care at CHEST 2022, E. Wesley Ely, MD, MPH, of the Vanderbilt University School of Medicine, highlights the need for humanism in the intensive care unit and how the COVID-19 pandemic destroyed what had been built up.

Patients with uveitis and their physicians may be very familiar with intravitreal injections, but triamcinolone acetonide injectable suspension (Xipere) has a novel delivery method, said Steven Yeh, MD, professor and the Stanley Truhlsen Jr. Chair in Ophthalmology at the Truhlsen Eye Institute, University of Nebraska Medical Center.

As understanding of COVID-19 evolves and more evidence on treatments emerges, making sense of it can be a challenge for physicians.

Vestibular dysfunction was shown to be a determinant of imbalance in Parkinson disease independent from visual and somatosensory processing changes and nigrostriatal dopaminergic losses.

One poster found patients with uncontrolled asthma had improved outcomes after escalating to triple therapy, while the other found a substantial portion of patients adherent to a dual therapy reported not having controlled asthma.