June 2024 – COA Patient Advocacy Network News Bulletin
Upcoming Advocacy Chats – Educational Conversations on Cancer Advocacy and Policy Issues
June 12: Policymakers Experiencing the Patient Journey with Sit in My Chair
When policymakers experience the real issues facing people being treated for cancer, they better understand the value of independent community oncology. Join Rose Gerber, MS, COA’s director of patient advocacy and education, and Chelsea Klock, RN, OCN, a CPAN chapter leader and registered nurse at Hematology-Oncology Associates of Central New York, who has previously organized Sit In My Chair practice visits. You’ll learn about the Sit In My Chair program and how advocates can host state and federal policymakers to show why community oncology matters. Register today for Wednesday, June 12, at 12 p.m. ET. Click here to register.
ICYMI: Pharmacy Benefit Managers: What Patients Need to Know
Patients can stand up to pharmacy benefit manager (PBM) abuses that unfairly influence patients’ cancer care. Rose Gerber, MS, and Debra Patt, MD, PhD, MBA, executive vice president of policy and strategy at Texas Oncology, discussed how PBMs interfere with patient access to, and affordability of, necessary cancer care.
Stream it on @OncologyCOA’s YouTube channel.
CPAN Resources Spotlight: Sit In My Chair Toolkit
The Sit In My Chair program invites state and federal lawmakers to experience the patient journey and learn how independent community oncology provides patients with high-quality, convenient cancer care. It’s simple to host a visit:
- Invite a state or federal lawmaker to visit your practice to better understand the need for local, high-quality, affordable cancer care.
- Plan the visit when the lawmaker is back in the community.
- Show your lawmaker the patient journey by including patients and staff who can explain the process of receiving cancer treatment at the practice and share why they value independent cancer care.
Download the starter guide to start planning your practice’s Sit In My Chair event today. For more information: [email protected].
Cancer News You Can Use
Finding Solutions to Decades of Cancer Drug Shortages in Spotlight at Annual Meeting – American Society of Clinical Oncology 06/04
The American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) 2024 Annual Meeting featured a panel discussion on finding solutions to the crisis of cancer drug shortages. The session, “Solving Decades of Drug Shortages in Oncology: What, Who, and When?” featured expert perspectives on potential market and economic factors that can improve the injectable drug supply chain and policies to help mitigate future shortages. The discussion focused on preventing cancer drug shortages by addressing key economic factors in the generic drug market to improve its resiliency.
Cancer-Fighting Antibodies Inject Chemo Directly into Tumor Cells, Upping Effectiveness – NBC News 06/02
By attaching a chemotherapy drug to an antibody, doctors can deliver more potent cancer-fighting medicines directly into tumor cells, all while causing fewer side effects. Antibody drug conjugates are designed to attack only cancer cells, thanks to the addition of specialized monoclonal antibodies that seek out specific targets on the cancer cells. New research on two different antibody drug conjugates, presented at the American Society of Clinical Oncology conference in Chicago, found that the treatments helped patients with multiple myeloma and breast cancer live longer without their cancers progressing further.
Cancer is Capsizing Americans’ Finances. ‘I Was Losing Everything.’ – Wall Street Journal 05/28
The economic burden of a cancer diagnosis is getting strikingly worse in the United States, as drug and medical costs soar and more patients live longer with the disease. In addition to rising cost for medical care and cancer drugs, cancer creates a uniquely difficult financial strain that comes with a string of nonmedical costs. Research shows that patients with more out-of-pocket costs are more likely to delay starting their medications or stop taking them altogether.
Spotlight on Cancer: Enhancing Total Well-Being
Community oncology puts patient health first. The Center for Cancer and Blood Disorders in Dallas-Fort Worth offers state-of-the-art cancer therapies and provides supportive care services, such as acupuncture and nutrition therapy, which can enhance a patient’s total well-being.
Learn how The Center for Cancer and Blood Disorders treats the whole patient in this Spotlight on Cancer Care.
Resources for Chapters
COA and CancerCare developed the campaign “Time to Screen” to promote awareness of early cancer screening when it is the most treatable.
Visit the Time to Screen Advocacy Toolkit to learn more.
Recent News & Updates
Cancer is a complex disease with many causes – and sometimes none. For some patients, getting cancer is down to plain bad luck.
Following lung cancer resection, patients had more improved exercise outcomes and health-related quality of life with a home-based exercise and self-management program vs. usual care, according to results published in JAMA Network Open.
The Community Oncology Alliance (COA) is pleased to announce that Debra Patt, MD, PhD, MBA, FASCO, has been elected president of COA.
Admitting she might sound like an eternal optimist, Alyssa Schatz, MSW, vice president, Policy and Advocacy, National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN), spent the fireside chat on the first day of the annual Patient-Centered Oncology Care (PCOC) meeting highlighting the progress she’s seen around responses to prior authorization (PA) policies and movement on equity.
