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A Conference of Transformation
We are coming off the annual Oncology Clinical Pathways Congress (OCPC) meeting in Boston after 2 years of a virtual meeting. It was a time to reconnect with old friends and make new friends. The excitement of having a room full of people who are focused and passionate on the topic of clinical pathways is indescribable and cannot be experienced or felt in a virtual venue.
Having been associated with OCPC since the beginning back in 2016, I could not help but reflect on the past, present, and future of clinical pathways. Payers, at the time of our first meeting, cringed at the thought of trying to manage oncology care, let alone have a pathway program. In recent years, the cost trend of oncology care moved to front and center as it was rising at an unsustainable rate. We were introduced to the concept of patient preference, and the need to be sensitive to these preferences when making treatment decisions, which may not necessarily be consistent with the preferred regimen.
This year’s annual OCPC meeting had a sense of excitement in the air. Our audience was more diverse and engaged. Based upon the topics and content presented in the seven sessions, it was clear that work in the pathway arena had not stopped during the pandemic. In fact, many would suggest that the pandemic stimulated continued progress. We learned on a broad range of topics, ranging from the need to incorporate real-world data into our learning analysis, to be better able to predict population outcomes based upon social determinants of health and patient reported outcomes, from the aspect of patient response to therapy to patient follow-up from a triage perspective.
The meeting also set the future of clinical pathways, suggesting that the vision is a transformation of what we know as a clinical pathway to a care pathway. In a care pathway, the clinical pathway is simply a component, along with pathways for diagnostics, social determinants of health and patient preference, and patient education and support. These pathways would all be supported by the backbone of real-world data from existing disconnected data elements integrated into a single data set with patient reported outcomes. Quoting from one of the presenters, the only way we are going to get there is to engage, educate, and empower.
In this issue’s feature pieces, Arabella Sykes, BSc, and her team discuss how the utilization of the Amyloidosis Appointment Companion optimized patient-provider communication and ultimately patient care in an amyloidosis clinic. Proven feasibility and acceptability indicate the benefit this application can make in understanding a host of individual patient needs, including values, expectations of treatment, and goals of care.
David Blaisdell and Tom Valuck, MD, JD, describe how the expanded use of telehealth services necessitates evolution in quality measures. They point out that public and private payers and measure developers should prioritize refinement, development, and implementation of telehealth-focused measures for oncology quality measurement and payment programs.
Also in this issue, you can find highlights from the 2022 Oncology Clinical Pathways Congress (page 8) and read what’s trending from the Association of Community Cancer Centers (page 29). Our editorial board member columns, Engaging Payers (page 16) and Patient Perspectives (page 24), focus on specialty value-based care and person-centered decision-making.
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