Current Issue of Evidence-Based Oncology™, a Publication of AJMC® Looks at New Ways to Pay for Cancer Care

CRANBURY, N.J.—Headlines about cancer care refer to a revolution—one-time treatments bring patients who had lost hope back from the brink, and some go on to live long, meaningful lives.

But the gene-based therapies that are changing care come at a cost. Personalized chimeric antigen receptor T-cell treatments start at $393,000 just for the therapy, and the full process can top $1 million. Our current healthcare financing system wasn’t built for this, and yet, more of these cures will be coming.

The current issue of Evidence-Based Oncology™ (EBO), a publication of The American Journal of Managed Care®, looks at the people who are shaking up the old healthcare financing paradigms to make way for these new one-time cures.

The lead cover story looks at the center at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology called NEWDIGS, which has brought together key stakeholders to develop financing structures that are hybrids of reinsurance, specialty pharmacy and biotechnology—and some of these ideas have been seen in the market already.

Also in the current issue:

• EBO Associate Editor Kashyap Patel, MD, and his coauthors from the Carolina Blood and Cancer Care Associates discuss the use of risk-sharing to accept two-sided risk under the Oncology Care Model, the cancer care alternative payment model of the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation.
• EBO interviews Duane Putnam, the first director of Payer and Employer Outreach for the National Comprehensive Cancer Network.
• Christopher Austin, MD, director of the National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences, discusses the mission of his agency—creating efficiencies in getting fundamental insights from the laboratory to the point of improving public health.

As EBO Editor-in-Chief Joseph Alvarnas, MD, notes in his editorial, the issue covers what’s really happening in financing on the front lines of figuring out how to pay for cancer care.

“The road to more financially sustainable care delivery will not be achieved through changes to the evaluation and management coding system or repeating platitudes about the importance of value-based care,” he said.

For the full issue, visit ajmc.com.

About The American Journal of Managed Care^®

The American Journal of Managed Care^® (AJMC^®) is a peer-reviewed, Medline-indexed journal that keeps readers on the forefront of health policy by publishing research relevant to industry decision makers as they work to promote the efficient delivery of high-quality care. AJMC.com is the essential website for managed care professionals, distributing industry updates daily to leading stakeholders. Other titles in the AJMC^® family include The American Journal of Accountable Care® and two evidence-based series, Evidence-Based Oncology™ and Evidence-Based Diabetes Management™. These comprehensive offerings bring together stakeholder views from payers, providers, policymakers and other industry leaders in managed care. To order reprints of articles appearing in AJMC® publications, please contact Gil Hernandez at 609-716-7777, ext. 139.

Contacts

AJMC^® Media

Alexandra Ventura, 609-716-7777, ext. 121

aventura@mjhassoc.com