September 2015

Changes in cancer care, regulations, and reimbursement create more pressure on practices than ever before to improve care, reduce costs, and remain viable in an atmosphere of mergers and acquisitions.

The experiment with bundled care in oncology is moving forward despite mixed results and lingering concerns about the administrative difficulty of implementation, potential care compromises, and whether innovation can thrive under fixed payments.

Some oncologists say they are overwhelmed by the diversity of pathways and payers are too often using them to micromanage decision making.

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.

North Shore Hematology Oncology has found a niche for itself by focusing on ways in which it can compete against local giants.

Getting ready for ICD-10 has involved a huge commitment to staff training and also much attention to the finer details.

New drug candidate necitumumab, which is being reviewed by the FDA as a treatment for patients with locally advanced or metastatic squamous non-small cell lung cancer, received a low cost-effectiveness evaluation in a study published in JAMA Oncology.

As cancer drugs soar in price, the National Comprehensive Cancer Network is introducing cost as a measure of the overall value of a therapy, following the trail of ASCO and a doctor from Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in attempting to put a lid on drug inflation.

A huge amount of training and preparation has preceded the October 1 implementation of International Classification of Diseases, Tenth Revision (ICD-10).

Costs of radiation treatment for breast, lung, and prostate cancer patients vary greatly based on reasons not connected to patient characteristics.