What Is Cancer?

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accountable care, best practices, evidence based care, health, innovation, jay walker, mind the gap, oncology, stephen wilkins, tedmed, wellness

By Gregg A. Masters, MPH

It’s been a while since Dr. Just has been able to put pen to pad and update you on his journey (and their is lots to tell from group mergers to a continuing drama with EHR implementation) into social media and a ‘transition’ to full to part time practice in a multi-site community oncology practice. More soon from Dr. J aka @chemosabe1 – at least I’ve been told.

Meanwhile, below is a clip producer by Jay Walker the curator of TEDMED and noted Professor of Medicine and Engineering at the University of Southern California Keck School of Medicine and Viterbi School of Engineering oncologist David B, Agus, MD well worth a view!

Also, we had a great session today on ‘this week in oncology’ chatting with Stephen Wilkins the publisher of ‘Mind The Gap’ blog. You can listen here.

 

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Big Data, Government and Cancer Research: A Benefit for Patients?

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big data, cancer, clinicaltrials, dan munro, evidence based medicine, genomics, innovation, medicine, oncology, social media

By Gregg A. Masters, MPH

On the Wednesday, July 24th, 2013 broadcast of This Week in Oncology at 2PM Pacific/5PM Eastern our special guest is entrepreneur, social media thought leader and Forbes Contributor Dan Munro aka @danmunro.

Dan recently penned a piece for Forbes titled: ‘Big Government Opens Big Database For Cancer Research‘

This catchy headline caught my attention since part of our mission at This Week In Oncology is to eliminate the esoterica from ‘oncology-speak’ and to present the significance of the discoveries, trends and developments in the cancer care and dignostics in plain english for more general consumption.

Much progress has been realized in medica oncology of late with a fair amount of the promisesd upside of ‘personalized [or individualized] medicine’ often pointing to better outcomes via more targeted treatment of specific tumors based on their unique genetic signature.

So called ‘big data’ is in the news as ubiquitous technology, connectivity, the declining costs of massive data dragnets and disease specific mashups affords insights previously inaccessible to reseachers, clinicians and others interested in the diagnosis and/or treatment of oncology.

We’ll get Dan’s takes on his piece and see how he sees the confluence of these trends coming together for the benefits of patients.

To listen live or via archived replay, click here.

The Advent of Cancer Immunotherapy: Addressing Unmet Needs Part 1

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cancer, evidence based medicine, health, immunotherapy, innovation, integrative oncology, managed care, medical education, wellness

By Gregg A. Masters, MPH

The following is provided via the video series at the American Journal of Managed Care on ‘The Advent of Cancer Immunotherapy’, part 1 of a 3 part series:

 

In a discussion moderated by Dr. Peter Salgo, Drs. Jeffrey Weber, Michael Kolodziej, and Daniel J. George share their insights and perspectives on the rise of cancer immunotherapy, and its significance during a time in which cancer is recognized as the “new global pandemic” that has killed more than 600,000 US persons in 2012 alone.

 

For original source link, click here.

Crowds Care for Cancer Challenge: Supporting Survivors the Finalists

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accountable care, cancer, coordinated care, crowds care for cancer, digital media, health, innovation, integrative oncology, medicine, survivorship

By Gregg A. Masters, MPH

Last month in a continuing commitment to advance the art and science of patient engagement in health the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC) teamed up with the National Cancer Institute (NCI) partnering with Health 2.0 Challenge and the Medstartr crowd funding platforms to field an innovative challenge on creating applications for the estimated 14 million cancer survivors in the United States.

For complete program details on the the ‘Crowds Care for Cancer: Supporting Survivors‘ challenge click here, and for the finalists now in the crowd funding optimization stage see the Medstartr finalists feature page here.

On This Week in Oncology, we chat with each of the three finalists in the competition, beginning with Journey Forward: My Care Plan, a project by Tiffany Devitt.

On Thursday, June 27th, 2013 at 1:30PM Pacific/4:30PM Eastern to join us live (or for an archived replay) with Patti Ganz, MD of the Journey Forward: My Care Plan team, click here.

Both remaining Crowds Care for Cancer: Supporting Survivors Challenge finalists are scheduled as follows:

PatientWithPower: A project by PatientsWithPower | 11AM Pacific/2PM Eastern Friday, June 28th, 2013. For live or archived replay, click here.

Together: A project by Michelle Longmire | 11AM Pacific/2PM Eastern Tuesday, July 2nd 2013. For live or archived replay, click here. 

Please review each of the candidates in this important challenge and show your support accordingly. The leader board to date is as follows: PatientsWithPower, Journey Forward: My Care Plan followed by Together.

 

Tumor Board: Is There Value in Multidisciplinary Case Consideration?

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digital health, evidence based medicine, health, innovation, oncology, participatory medicine, tumor board

By Gregg A. Masters, MPH

When the American College of Surgeons Commission on Cancer picked up the accreditation football and in the spirit of the then Joint Commission on Accreditation of Hospitals ‘Joint Commission‘ began the promulgation of specific standards for the accreditation of aspiring ‘cancer programs’, at the center of this consideration was the multidisciplinary cancer conference also known as ‘tumor board.’

Via these standards there were both structural and certain process considerations to meet, but the underlying assumption or zeitgeist of the value proposition – better cancer care – was that ‘multidisciplinary’ engagement of cancer specialists in the diagnosis and treatment of cancer patients would produce superior outcomes.

Then in October of 2012 Keating et al published a study titled: ‘Tumor Boards and the Quality of Cancer Care’. While somewhat dated (interval 2001-2004), and not generally representative of community oncology practices per se (the sample was sourced in the Veteran’s Health System), the conclusions are none-the-less a compelling call to objectively demonstrate long held assumptions of the benefits of tumor board ‘collaboration’.

The background context for the study was noted as follows:

Despite the widespread use of tumor boards, few data on their effects on cancer care exist. We assessed whether the presence of a tumor board, either general or cancer specific, was associated with recommended cancer care, outcomes, or use in the Veterans Affairs (VA) health system.

While Keating et al concluded as follows:

We observed little association of multidisciplinary tumor boards with measures of use, quality, or survival. This may reflect no effect or an effect that varies by structural and functional components and participants’ expertise.

Following publication a series of pieces appeared in the professional press with eye catching headlines such as:

‘Tumor Boards May Not Really Impact Cancer Care‘, and ‘Little association of multidisciplinary tumor boards with effects on cancer care‘, but the title that grabbed our attention was an opinion piece in response to the Keating study offered by Douglas W. Blayney, MD, Stanford Cancer Institute, Stanford School of Medicine, titled: ‘Tumor Boards (team Huddles) Aren’t Enough to Reach the Goal‘.

Blayney details his reasoning and observation while cautioning against the potential ‘knee jerk’ over reaction by some to the Keating conclusions and ‘market aftermath’ as follows:

Tumor boards have too long a history for them to be easily
abandoned. Much like the “hurry-up” offense changed the conduct of huddles in football, tumor boards should also adapt to the changing times and technology. In the system studied by Keating et al. (1), there are only huddles and no feedback loop. Their measurement work provides a reason to change tumor board conduct.

On ‘This Week in Oncology‘, May 22nd, 2013 at 2PM Pacific/5PM Eastern Dr. Blayney is our very special guest. We’ll dive deeper into his thought process, rationale and recommendations to tweak the tumor board formula via technology and other process adds, to perhaps better align this important multi-disciplinary experience with improved patient outcomes.

‘You Don’t Know Jack’ by Morgan Spurlock

Tags

cancer, clinical trials, digital media, evidence based medicine, health, innovation, Intel Science Fair, jack andraka, oncology, participatory medicine

By Gregg A. Masters, MPH

But you should! Get to know him here:

Earlier today we just finished chatting with Jack Andraka on This Week In Oncology. One of my favorite lines from the conversation is quoted below, Jack refers to the high school biology class as the:

absolute stifler of innovation

From which he none-the-less associates inspiration for his scientific inquiry. Suffice it to say, Jack was neither encouraged nor challenged by the curriculum, and found other ways to engage his mind and curiousity.

Is It Safe?

Tags

cancer, digital media, ehr, emr, innovation, internet security, mat honan, oncology, social media

By Richard Just, MD

When I read William Goldman’s book “The Marathon Man” years ago, I recall the evil Nazi dentist with drill in hand (played by Sir Laurence Olivier in the subsequent movie) hovering over the un-anesthetized Dustin Hoffman strapped to a chair asking the question: “Is it safe?” Of course, Hoffman didn’t know. So when Olivier turned on the drill and Hoffman started screaming, everyone in the theater identified with his pain. I still get chills when thinking about it.

In previous blog post here, I’ve described the pain I experienced when we transitioned from paper charts to electronic medical records. Certainly not as intense as having dental work without anesthesia, but agony just the same. Well guess what! Now we’re transitioning to a new EMR. In many ways, our pain level has increased from 6/10 to 9/10.

I interviewed Casey Quinlan, of Might Casey Media, a very astute commentator on healthcare in general and cancer care specifically, on This Week in Oncology last Wednesday. The “Mighty Casey” made several cogent observations on EMR’s, but, we  really didn’t address the question of security. In the December 15-16, 2012 issue of the Wall Street Journal, Ellen E. Schultz  wrote an article entitled: “How Safe Are Your Medical Records?” Two pieces of legislation are cited:

The first is the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) which “allows health-care providers to disclose medical records without a patient’s consent when the information used is for treatment, payment and ‘health-care operations.’ Providers are supposed to exchange only relevant information, but they commonly transfer a patient’s entire file, which is easier than separating the pertinent records.” In the same manner, protection can be lost for psychotherapy records if they are co mingled with other medical records.

Second is the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 which “prohibits the unauthorized sale of medical records, requires that data be encrypted and mandates that individuals be notified of security breaches. It is too soon to say how effective these rules will be.”

Drilling down to the core problem is Mat Honan’s original article “How Apple and Amazon Security Flaws Led to My Epic Hacking” and follow-up video entitled “Mat Honan Hacked and Digitally Destroyed” he describes an “epic hack” that destroyed his entire digital life in 1 hour. Having been the victim of a phishing expedition, a minor nuisance compared to his experience, I know how it feels to have your identity stolen.  After researching how and why hacking has become more problematical, Honan concludes: “The age of the password has come to an end; we just haven’t realized it yet. And no one has figured out what will take its place.” He continues: “The ultimate problem with the password is that it’s a single point of failure, open to many avenues of attack. Two factors should be a bare minimum.” This creates the dilemma that if the password is too simple and obvious, it’s a no-brainer to crack; if it’s too complex and obscure, the password is hard to remember. And, we are advised never to write passwords down. Why am I not surprised that the most common password used is, in fact, “password”, and second is “123456”?

Honan provides a helpful Dos and Don’ts list to survive the “password apocalypse”:

“DON’T:

1. REUSE PASSWORDS. If you do, a hacker who gets just one of your accounts will own them all.
2. USE A DICTIONARY WORD AS YOUR PASSWORD. If you must, then string several together into a pass phrase.
3. USE STANDARD NUMBER SUBSTITUTIONS. Think P455wOrd is a good password? NOp3! Cracking tools now have those built in.
4. USE A SHORT PASSWORD-no matter how weird. Today’s processing speeds mean that even passwords like “h6!r$q” are quickly crackable. Your best defense is the longest possible password.

DO:

1. ENABLE TWO-FACTOR AUTHENTICATION WHEN OFFERED. When you log in from a strange location, a system like this will send you a text message with a code to confirm. Yes, that can be cracked, but it’s better than nothing.
2. GIVE BOGUS ANSWERS TO SECURITY QUESTIONS. Think of them as a secondary password. Just keep your answers memorable. My first car? Why, it was a “Camper Van Beethoven Freaking Rules.”
3. SCRUB YOUR ONLINE PRESENCE: One of the easiest ways to hack into an account is through your e-mail and billing address information. Sites like Spokeo and WhitePages.com offer opt-out mechanisms to get your information removed from their databases.
4. USE A UNIQUE, SECURE EMAIL ADDRESS FOR PASSWORD RECOVERIES. If a hacker knows where your password reset goes, that’s a line of attack. So create a special account you never use for communications. And make sure to choose a username that isn’t tied to your name-like m****n@wired.com so it can’t be easily guessed.”

So, the answer to the question: “Is it safe?” is an emphatic NO. Honan concludes that online identity verification will not be a password-based system in the future, any more than our system of personal identification will be based on photo-ID’s. But, passwords may still be involved as just one part of a multifaceted process.

Clinical Cancer Advances 2012 via @ASCO

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cancer, evidence based medicine, innovation, medical education, oncology, participatory medicine, physician, social media, twitter

Now in its eighth year, Clinical Cancer Advances 2012 was developed under the guidance of an 21-person editorial board of leading oncologists, overseen by Executive Editors Nicholas J. Vogelzang, MD and Bruce J. Roth, MD.
Each year, the American Society of Clinical Oncology conducts an independent review of advances in clinical cancer research that have the greatest potential impact on patients’ lives.

This year’s report, Clinical Cancer Advances 2012: ASCO’s Annual Report on Progress Against Cancer, features 87 studies, 17 of which were designated as “major” advances by the report’s 21-person editorial board.

The large number of advances featured in this year’s Report affirms the remarkable payoff of national investments in clinical research on cancer prevention, screening, treatment and quality of life for patients with cancer.

For complete report, click here.

The ‘Oncology ACO’: Does it Have a Future?

Tags

accountable care, aco, affordable care act, cancer, FloridaBlue, health reform, innovation, obamacare, oncology ACO, US Oncology

By Gregg A. Masters, MPH

The best business model for oncology care is not yet obvious to me. But it is crystal clear that innovative new models are being hatched before our eyes.. via Oncology Times

Since CMS (via HHS) issued the final rule addressing ACO provisions and specifically ‘excluded’ oncologists from participating as ACO organizers, instead relegating their involvement in at least via the Medicare Shared Savings Program to ‘participants’, there has been rumbling underneath the surface of ‘ACO-dom’.

Perhaps as best evidenced by the April announcement of a tripartite venture between FlordiaBlue, Advanced Medical Specialties (a former US Oncology Affiliate now part of the McKesson fold), and Baptist Health System, the competitive positioning in the oncology market is not sitting idly by as other medical specialties, including primary care, carve out their niche and actively experiment with their version and local vision for accountable care aka ‘the triple aim.’

In the broader conversation on ACOs or their derivatives including medical homes or accountable care collaborations, etc, there has been much discussion from very smart and accomplished wonks including periodic banter, i.e., Goldsmith v. De Marco] as to the significance and forward [reasonably expected] benefits from duly organized [or in the latter case – arranged] ACOs. Bottom-line,  there is a fair amount of credible disagreement over whether these entities as variably configured actually make a difference?

Meanwhile, in the oncology domain, much of the action seems relegated to a few forward thinking players who have taken the initiative regardless of CMS’ decision to limit their participation (at least to this point in time) to contracted participant suppliers of specialty services.

For a deeper dive into the question: ‘Who Is Taking the Lead in Incorporating Oncology into ACO Thinking?’ see: The Rapidly Evolving ACO World, we have the following observation and summary data:

There are several examples of organizations that have stepped up and have taken the lead in exploring payment re-design in oncology, some within an ACO shared savings context and some outside the ACO context.

The vanguard includes:

• Consultants in Medical Oncology & Hematology. Oncology Patient Centered Medical Home®, Drexel Hill, PA
• United Healthcare (5 episode payment pilot sites)
• Texas Oncology/Innovent Oncology and Aetna
• Oncology Physician Resource (OPR) and Michigan Blue Cross
• Wilshire Oncology and Wellpoint, Southern California
• CareFirst Blue Cross pathways and medical home initiative, Maryland
• Priority Health oncology medical home initiative, Michigan
• Florida Blue, Baptist Health South Florida and Advanced Medical Specialties Oncology ACO, Miami
• Harvard Pilgrim Health Plan with oncology medical home demonstration pilot, Massachusetts;
• Innovative Oncology Business Solutions with CMMI Innovation Challenge grant to demonstrate value proposition of community oncology medical home (COME HOME) at 7 community oncology practices nationwide.

And certainly there will be more organizations joining the vanguard in the near future.

We are working on getting Ronald Barkley, CCBD Group, and Linda Bosserman, MD, President and CEO of Wilshire Oncology respectively to share their thoughts on ‘This Week in Oncology’. We’ll keep you posted when we’re able to lock them down.

Meanwhile, with the elections now behind us, the future is rather clear at least for those who want to manifest the spirit and intent of the Affordable Care Act, so ‘warp drive Mr. Zulu’ as the ACO movement shifts into overdrive.

Can ‘Social Media’ Bridge the Gap Between Payers and Oncologists?

Tags

@tumorboard, cancer, digital media, health, innovation, managed care, medical education, participatory medicine, social media, twitter

By Gregg A. Masters, MPH

The continued penetration of social media tools, platforms and derivatives into medicine in general and oncology in particular continues to make steady if not uneven headway into the workflow of medical groups, physician networks if not individual practices.

Still somewhat of a ‘show me the money’ value proposition, social media leverages widely accessible web-based and mobile technologies to create and share user-generated content in a collaborative and more often than not near real time social context. The ultimate promise is, that it’s effective uptake will enable new opportunities for physicians, other healthcare professionals and even certain ‘calcified institutions’ i.e., hospitals, to interact with patients in new and different ways.

In cancer care social media can serve as a platform for patient education (see: @Chemotopia) if not as an authoritative health messaging resource, where oncologists fulfill their role as trusted publishers if not de-facto ‘search nodes on the web’. Additionally many believe these emerging technologies can add to professional development, see @TumorBoard, knowledge sharing, and even where appropriate direct patient interaction, if key legal and privacy concerns can be addressed prospectively.

In the professional development department, the video below was shot on November 16 2012 at American Journal of Managed Care’s (AJMC) ‘Translating Evidence-Based Research Into Value-Based Decisions in Oncology’.

Featuring Dennis Scanlon, PhD, who addresses the ‘Importance of Payer/Provider Relationships’. Dr. Scanlon is Professor of Health Policy and Administration, The Pennsylvania State University, stresses: ‘it is very important to bridge the gap between providers and payers in oncology management’ as ‘there is a lot of variation in the cost and quality of care in oncology. The goal is to identify the appropriate payments for quality care.’