May 2017

Radiation therapy remains fertile for continued technological innovation that can improve patient outcomes, but of the newest technologies may be practical for only the largest institutions.

Terra Universal, an environmental solutions company based in Fullerton, California, came to a point recently where it was no longer willing to sell and design clean-room setups for oncology practices unless potential clients first sat down with a consultant who could give them reliable guidance on what they needed.

The research presented at AACR focused on the fundamentals of cell biology, cell aging, and cell death; how the immune system recognizes and kills cancer cells; and how, in turn, cancer cells avoid immune system detection.

Practices that meet the goals for improvement in savings and outcomes will be eligible for performance incentive payments.

As recently as the late 1990s, a practice could charge enough for chemotherapy drugs that it could easily afford to treat patients who had Medicare coverage and no additional insurance. Today, that is often no longer the case.

The clock is ticking on the anticipated implementation of the US Pharmacopeial Convention Chapter 800 (USP ) standards for hazardous drug management, which are expected to become widely enforceable starting July 1, 2018.