Celebrating a Decade of Innovation: Insights from CPC+CBEx and New Directions in Oncology Care
This year’s Clinical Pathways Congress + Cancer Care Business Exchange (CPC+CBEx) was a huge success, celebrating 10 years of the Journal of Clinical Pathways (JCP) while also celebrating groundbreaking research and advancing education in the clinical pathways space. This year, we achieved our goal to bring clinicians, policymakers, payers, and oncology innovators to support value-driven, evidence-based oncology care. We had a tremendous response to our call for abstracts this year. Our three winners for the Most Innovative Abstract award were the following:
- From Fragmented to Integrated: A Roadmap to Equity for Psychosocial Support in Rural and Underserved Cancer Programs by Jerlinda Ross, MD, and James Emery, PhD (page 48)
- Pharmacist-Driven Outcomes for Patients on Oral Oncology Medications: Clinical Impact of an Integrated Specialty Pharmacy Model by Kishen Patel, PharmD, et al (page 48)
- Green Light, Red Flags: A New Framework for Evaluating Oncology Accelerated Approvals by Sang R. Chau, PharmD, BCOP, et al (page 49)
In our Original Research article (page 32), a retrospective study by Wheeley et al confirms molecular profiling and targeted therapies can influence outcomes in patients with advanced thyroid cancer, particularly those with radioactive Iodine refractory (RAIR) disease. Genomic profiling is being used to identify differentiated thyroid cancers (DTC) based upon their histopathological differences. Many cases of DTC contain driver mutations that can be identified, which has led to significant advances in the development of targeted therapies, helping health care providers further individualize treatments for this patient population.
In our second Original Research article (page 20), Bilen et al discuss how tumor testing rates for patients with metastatic prostate cancer (mPC) remain inconsistent across patient populations. Hence, they developed a care pathway and leveraged the electronic health record (EHR) to standardize testing workflows. These tools guide the use of EHR automation to improve patient identification, enhance clinical decision-making, and optimize the integration of tumor and germline testing into clinical workflows across care settings, which may may reduce care inequities for patients with mPC.
Finally, in our Transformative Business Trends column (page 52), Vogenberg observes how despite active advocacy and lobbying efforts toward health care changes, the outcomes have been uneven or unsuccessful. The same barriers still exist for employers and manufacturers, including a lack of collaboration between health care stakeholders. Collaborating purposely inside employer ecosystems, through data-driven strategy and culturally relevant engagement, can enhance the effective utilization of clinical guidelines, pathways, or other care management tools that can be beneficial to all concerned.
We hope you find these articles—as well as the other submissions included in this issue— interesting reading as they all relate to the “blunting the cost” trend. As always, the Journal of Clinical Pathways is eager to receive submissions of your work and research in the space throughout the year.
