Tag Archives: American Journal of Managed Care

“Facts are Facts and Will Not Disappear on Account of Your Likes”*

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“Facts are stubborn things; and whatever may be our wishes, our inclinations, or the dictates of our passion, they cannot alter the state of facts and evidence.”
~John Adams, from The Portable John Adams
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I’ve always loved this quote, and it seemed the perfect way to begin my newest blog postings on the American Journal of Managed Care (AJMC)’s Contributor’s Page.  Those who regularly read my blog here know that in my roles as a cancer research advocate, patient, and cancer survivor, I’m always deeply concerned about anything that interferes with evidence-based, patient-centered clinician and patient decision-making.  This includes governmental mandates that are not rooted in the science, but rather, stem from political ideologies, agendas, or biases–as well as misleading, inaccurate, or overly simplistic dialogues about complex medical topics in the popular media that may lead folks to make potentially dangerous decisions about their health due to such misinformation.  I’m similarly concerned when the facts surrounding such complex information become inadvertently buried due to passionately held opinions or, far too often, purposefully due to inconvenient facts that are contrary to one’s mission or agenda.  That’s why I found it so important to express my concern as a patient advocate about the newly proposed Medicare Part B Drug Payment Model regarding its level of transparency and the evidence.  This is a critical issue, where it’s important for all Americans to get past the noise, emerge from the avalanche of misinformation, and learn the facts about this proposal, one where the first part of this Medicare experiment is deeply flawed (and, IMHO, should be completed eliminated), yet the second portion proposes value-based pricing when appropriately supported by high-quality evidence, including published randomized controlled trials, reviews, or evidence-based clinical practice guidelines.  Thus, I hope that you’ll click below to read my three-part series at the American Journal of Managed Care, entitled:
(*The quote that forms the title of this posting is from Jawaharlal Nehru, leader of India’s nationalist movement, India’s first prime minister after its independence, and Indira Gandhi’s father.)

 

Immunotherapy Part II: Understanding the Unique Spectrum of Adverse Events

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In last week’s blog, entitled “Cancer Immunotherapy: a Patient’s Perspective,” I discussed the increasing excitement concerning new immunotherapies for patients with advanced and difficult-to-treat cancers, the need for caution in interpreting results while the data is still young, and the necessity for more mature data with much longer follow-up on an increased number of patients.
Part II of this blog series, now posted on The American Journal of Managed Care’s Contributors Page, continues on this important topic, focusing on why it is so critical for patients and their caregivers to understand the unique spectrum of adverse events that may be associated with these agents.  Unfortunately–and unsurprisingly–when reporting on the potential benefits of immunotherapy, some in the popular media have stated that there are “few to no side effects” associated with such therapies.  Though immunotherapies are typically not associated with the same adverse effects seen with chemotherapy regimens, “The Promise of Cancer Immunotherapy: Why Patient Education is Critical, Part II” outlines why the statement “few to no side effects” does not tell the entire story and may be extremely misleading for patients–and emphasizes the information that must be shared with patients before beginning any immunotherapy treatment.
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Cancer Immunotherapy: a Patient Advocate’s Perspective

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Over the last few years, months, and weeks, we have seen an increasing number of headlines pronouncing immunotherapy as the most exciting development in cancer treatment in recent memory.  Yet what is striking to many is that these discussions are not solely taking place throughout the popular media.  Rather, immunotherapy is more and more frequently becoming a major topic among oncologists, investigators, government agencies, academia, patient advocates, industry, and other stakeholders–where some express genuine excitement and others weigh in with cautious optimism concerning its potential promise.

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Yet despite the optimism, the field is still very much in its infancy, and the evidence is still emerging.  As a cancer research advocate, a key part of my role is focusing on the state of the evidence and the implications for patients, ensuring that scientific information is presented clearly and realistically, and raising the need for caution in increasing the hopes of patients when such data is still “in early days.”  In other words, because the encouraging results for some patients with previously resistant disease have been widely heralded in the popular media and since immunotherapy is in fact an increasingly active area of research, it is critical that cancer patients and their loved ones truly know what to expect from immunotherapy.

So when I was recently asked to contribute a new article for the American Journal of Managed Care and Evidence-Based Oncology  from the perspective of a patient and cancer research advocate, it was immediately clear that the following would be my next topic: “The Promise of Cancer Immunotherapy: Why Patient Education is Critical.”  So please click here to read this most recent contribution, and consider sharing it with other patients, advocates, caregivers, and healthcare providers concerning the current realities of cancer immunotherapy, the remaining questions, and why long-term follow-up and continued research is so critical with a much larger number of patients to obtain the mature data needed regarding safety, efficacy, potential adverse effects, durability of beneficial response, and impact on patients’ overall survival.

 

 

Sharing My Perspective as a Cancer Survivor with Cardiac Late Effects – in the June Issue of the “Evidence-Based Oncology” Journal

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A few months ago, I received a message on LinkedIn from the Managing Editor of the journal Evidence-Based Oncology.  She explained that she had read my blog and was writing to ask whether I would consider contributing to their upcoming June issue.  The issue would be dedicated to the growing field of Cardio-Oncology, and she was requesting my contribution to provide a patient’s and advocate’s perspective as one who has personally experienced cardiotoxicity secondary to cancer treatment.  (Evidence-Based Oncology is a publication of The American Journal of Managed Care, a peer-reviewed journal dedicated to disseminating clinical information to managed care physicians, clinical decision makers, and other healthcare professionals in its aim to stimulate scientific communication in the continually evolving field of managed care. It serves as a platform for research, news updates, and opinions in the world of oncology that may impact healthcare access as well as coverage decisions.)

I greatly welcomed this wonderful opportunity to contribute to such a well-respected journal, particularly concerning the serious risk of developing late effects due to cancer treatment, a critical area that is at the heart of so many of my advocacy efforts. You can see my article on the American Journal of Managed Care (AMJC) website, and it was also posted today, June 1st, with the newly released June issue of Evidence-Based Oncology. I would be honored if, as a follower and/or reader of my Musings of a Cancer Research Advocate blog, you would take a moment to read my article on the Evidence-Based Oncology website and share it with your friends and colleagues, such as through Facebook, Twitter, or LinkedIn, to help increase awareness among patients themselves, their primary care physicians (so many of whom still know far too little about late effects of cancer treatment), and other healthcare providers concerning the very real risk of developing collateral damage from cancer treatment many years, often decades, following cancer treatment.  I hope that in some small way (or, even better, in a big way) that my and the other articles in this Cardio-Oncology series will truly make a difference in increasing understanding concerning this critical area for cancer patients and in reducing misdiagnoses / late diagnoses of and increased mortality due to these serious conditions.