Look What You Missed: A Meeting Just for Oncology Pharmacists and Their Team
Under the auspices of the Association of Community Cancer Centers (ACCC), the Oncology Pharmacy Education Network (OPEN) brought together key individuals within the oncology community to share their pharmacy experiences, business models, and successes. OPEN presented a one-day meeting for oncology pharmacists at the ACCC Oncology Economics Conference held in Minneapolis, Minn., on Tuesday, September 22, 2009, at the Hyatt Regency Minneapolis.
Oral Agents Update
Patrick Medina, PharmD, BCOP
Risk Evaluation and Mitigation Strategies (REMS)
Ellen Chung, Hogan & Hartson
Oncology and the Specialty Pharmacy: Changing Roles and the Impact on Cancer Centers
Dawn Holcombe, MBS, FACMPE, ACHE, DGH Consulting
Disease/Clinical Focus: Updates from the ASCO/HOPA Meeting
Steve D'Amato, RPh, BCOP, Maine Center for Cancer Medicine, and Jim Koeller, MS, University of Texas, Austin & Health Science Center
We're here to help you plot strategy for 2010 and understand the complex issues that face today's oncology pharmacy.
What is the Oncology Pharmacy Education Network?
"There has never been a greater need for an oncology pharmacist network," says ACCC Board Member and OPEN Chair Steven D'Amato, RPh, BCOP. "We are constantly facing new challenges in a very complex field, and within a year, perhaps more, we can expect a significant influx of new cancer patients. OPEN is the way that we can stay on top of this ever-changing arena, and indeed, there is a real possibility, working with ACCC, that we can affect those changes."
OPEN reaches out to more than 1,100 oncology pharmacists and hundreds of cancer program administrators or medical directors interested in pharmacy-related issues. The Network's priorities are to expand communication to the pharmacy membership through an expanded Web site presence as well as educational sessions. National educational sessions take place for oncology pharmacists and OPEN members at the two ACCC's signature events: its Annual National Meeting and Oncology Economics Conference. And a special one-day OPEN meeting takes place at ACCC's falll Oncology Economics Conference.
OPEN...serving pharmacy directors, pharmacy administrators, pharmacists, and cancer program administrators or medical directors interested in pharmacy–related issues.
What is OPEN Doing for Its Members?
OPEN looks out for the interests of oncology pharmacists and their staffs and provides the education and resources they need.
Top priority goes to assuring that the costs of providing oncology drugs are accounted for in the reimbursement process. Currently, hospitals are reimbursed only for the cost of drugs in the outpatient setting. No provision is made for the preparation, storage, inventory control, and waste management of these highly toxic drugs.
OPEN leadership and ACCC policy staff meet with CMS and MedPAC staff to assure they are fully informed of the issues.
Surveys and Reports
The Association of Community Cancer Centers (ACCC) and Covance Market Access Services, Inc., released a final report on the "Impact of Payer Coverage and Reimbursement Policies on Off-Label Use of Anticancer Therapies." The Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA), and the Biotechnology Industry Organization (BIO) also helped develop the survey.
Nearly half of the respondents report that their practice’s frequency of off-label use of anticancer therapies has decreased over the past five years. Coverage and reimbursement challenges were the overwhelming reason cited by oncology practices for their decreased use of anticancer therapies for off-label uses. Oncology practices that report an increase in off-label use attribute their increased utilization to the availability of more drugs that have been shown to be effective in uses that are not yet FDA-approved.
Click here to read more.
There are a lot of challenges and few tools available to the oncology pharmacist members of OPEN. Focusing on this need, OPEN is in the process of developing an extraordinary web site as part of the ACCC's website with a variety of tools and information/educational mechanisms specifically for oncology pharmacists.
Among the tools under development:
- A simulated pharmacy comparison tool, incorporating both drugs and quality-of-life parameters
- A bulletin board for OPEN members
- A series of educational tools
- Spreadsheets for oncology pharmacists on the HOPPS.
Our plan is to rapidly increase the amount of information and educational material available to our oncology pharmacists… focusing on communications which will help them explain the rapidly changing environment to their hospital oncology colleagues.
