Clinical

Jennifer Malin, MD, staff vice president, Clinical Strategy, Anthem, said that while there are a lot of quality measures being developed by several organizations, care gaps persist.

When comparing a private practice with a larger healthcare system, Linda Bosserman, MD, assistant clinical professor and staff physician, City of Hope, said that the challenges can run across the system.

Jennifer Malin, MD, staff vice president, Clinical Strategy, Anthem, spoke about her health plan’s requirements on quality measures and whether they resonate what CMS requires providers to submit.

Measuring quality is important in determining whether patients are getting the appropriate care they need, and according to Linda Bosserman, MD, assistant clinical professor and staff physician, City of Hope, quality measures should cater to the patient’s unique needs.

From a health plan perspective, the key to effectively using electronic health records, or EHRs, is to leverage the infrastructure in a manner that takes the burden away from the physician and his or her practice, said Jennifer Malin, MD, staff vice president, Clinical Strategy, Anthem.

Data interoperability remains a challenge among practicing physicians and health plans, mainly because each system operates on its own standards and vocabulary, explained Jason C. Goldwater, MA, MPA, senior director, National Quality Forum.

Patient-reported outcome measures help providers and health plans better understand what the patient wants and needs; however, there are still many challenges standing in the way of reaching its full potential, said Jason C. Goldwater, MA, MPA, senior director, National Quality Forum.

Linda Bosserman, MD, assistant clinical professor and staff physician, City of Hope, explained that quality measurements allow patients access to important information that can help them make decisions about their care.

While the science of quality measurements is still in its infancy, Jennifer Malin, MD, staff vice president, Clinical Strategy, Anthem, said these metrics have allowed her and her team to open the door of communication among providers on how important quality truly is.

Jason C. Goldwater, MA, MPA, senior director, National Quality Forum, explained that quality metrics exist for 3 purposes: to ensure the best science and practices are being utilized, to set the bar for what good quality looks like, and to keep up with the evolving nature of healthcare.

When the topic of affordability of healthcare comes up, people usually mean the price of healthcare, but there is a difference, said Tomas Philipson, PhD, of the University of Chicago, at the ISPOR Annual Meeting.

A provider, a payer, and an expert from an organization that endorses quality measures in healthcare participated in a panel discussion on measuring the quality of care in oncology.

A newly formed data-sharing initiative, Oncology Precision Network (OPeN), is promising a boost to precision medicine via data access to several health systems and cancer patients in the nation.

Coverage from Patient-Centered Diabetes Care, April 7-8, 2016. Presented by The American Journal of Managed Care and Joslin Diabetes Center.

A combination of sofosbuvir and velpatasvir (Epclusa) that is effective against all 6 major forms of the hepatitis C virus (HCV) has received the FDA’s consent to market.

What we're reading, June 28, 2016: Illinois approves Aetna-Humana merger; Harvard Pilgrim Health Care reaches value-based payment agreements with Novartis and Eli Lilly; and the Supreme Court struck down key aspects of the Texas abortion law.

The rising cost of drugs is a cause for concern among various stakeholders in healthcare, some of who worry that staying on the current trajectory will “break the bank,” said panelists during a session at the ISPOR Annual Meeting.

Despite recommendations and the passage of legislation, there is little evidence that the quality of behavioral health has improved significantly over the last 10 years in the United States.

Exposure of patients to the dangers of certain diagnostic equipment can have unwanted long-term effects, which healthcare providers may be underestimating, according to research conducted at the University of Saskatchewan.

Bringing up palliative care is inherently difficult for providers, because it means bringing up death and dying, said Toby C. Campbell, MD, MSCI, associate professor of medicine, hematology-oncology at the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health.