Articles by Andrew L. Pecora, MD

As long as bundles are tied to a desired clinical outcome of relevance to the patients, we can truly move toward value-based medicine and enable the Goldilocks formula of delivery: just the right amount of care, not too much, and not too little-every time.

Today, scientists continue to work on cloning technologies with the hope that someday we will be able to offer new body parts to people afflicted by disease and injury.

It is always fun to try to predict the future. Invariably you will be wrong.

How can we slow down the growth of cancer costs and preserve-or better yet-enhance clinical outcomes?

There is a growing chorus that seems to be debating separate issues-340B drug pricing, the sequester, site of service differential, etc. But the debate revolves around a singular issue-where should cancer care be delivered?

I find it striking that some of my colleagues believe the changes in reimbursement that are under consideration in oncology care delivery will be one of many trends that rises dramatically from the ever present background noise only to later fade into oblivion

We have been asked on numerous occasions why would almost 100 oncologists "give up their independence and identity in their community" and become part of Regional Cancer Care Associates (RCCA), a new entity with a single tax identification number?

The current state of affairs in oncology care reimbursement is in flux, with the promise for dramatic change. It is hoped that change will foster value-based oncology care delivery, avoid the need to ration care indiscriminately, and allow for continued discovery and advancement. Good luck!

I would like to begin by expressing my excitement about my new position as editor-in-chief of Oncology Business Management.

Like you, I get up every day and look at the stack of journals I know I need to read but cannot imagine when I will find the time.

As we approach the end of the year, it is a reasonable time to reflect on what has been accomplished in cancer research and therapeutic development.

A majority of Americans-patients, physicians, hospital executives, business leaders, and elected officials- are bearing witness to the beginning of a change in healthcare reimbursement and delivery that rivals the introduction of the Medicare system in 1965.

I remember trying to explain to my son when he was in the fifth grade how the genetic code contained in all of our cells is translated, resulting in the various tissues we all possess for daily life

Only Time Will Tell the Far-Reaching Societal Implications of the Supreme Court's BRCA 1/2 Ruling

While the anti-T-cell-checkpoint approach is far from perfect, the demonstrated ability for humanity to overcome evolutionary design and break tumor cell tolerance to turn the tide against cancer is nothing less than inspiring.

Running on a parallel track to the rapid pace of discovery in oncology is another revolution: the business side of delivering oncology care. In fact, the cancer care delivery landscape may be changing faster than the science track.

Andrew L. Pecora, MD, discusses possible drawbacks to the Physician Payment Sunshine Act, which was passed in 2010 by Congress as part of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act.

Discussing prognosis and a treatment plan has been getting particularly complicated with acute myelogenous leukemia with the development and use of molecular markers that confer prognostic and therapeutic information.

The oncology we all learned over the past three decades will soon be a thing of the past, making way for therapy decisions based on what molecular switches should be turned on and off, and of equal importance, in what sequence.

On Sunday, December 9, 2012, the Plenary Session at the 54th American Society of Hematology Annual Meeting featured several noteworthy abstracts.

It has always been our job as cancer care physicians to guide the patient, even when our guidance is not what one would like to hear.

We have come a long way from the microscope of Galileo, but questions remain in actual practice about how close we need to get to help our patients.

Over the past decade, there has been an explosion of knowledge regarding the fundamental drivers of the malignant phenotype.

New data from a study sponsored by the National Institutes of Health appear to have proven that there is an inexpensive and relatively simple approach to reducing the incidence of most cancers that afflict men: Take a multivitamin daily.

A consortium of over 442 global investigators at 32 institutions recently reported results in over 30 publications of a decade of work from the Encyclopedia of DNA Elements project.

To be transformative, we need to think outside the box, and maybe it will take a computer visionary and a fairytale to guide us.

A well-designed study involving hundreds of patients for many years can lead to one- to two-sentence conclusions that create the new standard of care; this year's Plenary Session on Sunday at ASCO was no exception.

In the past few years the pace of discovery of effective immunotherapies has accelerated as a consequence of better chemistry and understanding of immune biology.

Lately, business and government have done more to "move the needle" in changing healthcare delivery than physicians, scientists, and other clinical professionals.

The paradigm of "more energy is better" is not limited to space travel, and in fact is center stage in a growing debate in the field of radiation oncology.