What Caught Our Eye: ACA Analysis/Debate, Doc/Patient Communication, Universal Cancer Care, Financial Toxicity, Palliative Care Pain Studies
| What Caught Our Eye (WCOE), February 10, 2017 What Caught Our Eye is our week-in-review blog series, where we recap the cancer policy articles, studies, and stories that caught our attention. |
Affordable Care Act
Brookings Study on ACA Impact in Five States
As the repeal and replace debate continues in Washington, the Brookings Institution spearheaded a study to look at what is and isn’t working with the Affordable Care Act. Their analysis of five states that implemented the ACA in various ways is informative to provide insights for where we go from here.
Below is the link to Brookings’ report, as well as a story from NPR about their findings.
What Worked For Obamacare And What Didn't? Lessons From 5 States https://t.co/B4SssC70XB
— NPR Health News (@NPRHealth) February 9, 2017
ACA Replacement Proposals
Sarah Kliff from Vox.com was on NPR to discuss some of the Republican proposals to replace Obamacare. She says, “it’s ‘an overreach’ to say that Republicans have a plan for what comes next.”
Republicans Want To Get Rid Of Obamacare. But Then What? https://t.co/nzybZTmjXz
— NPR Health News (@NPRHealth) February 9, 2017
The ACA’s Individual Mandate
This Politico article examines how the individual mandate—the requirement in the ACA that every American have health coverage—impacts the debate in Washington about the ACA.
The GOP alternatives for the most hated piece of Obamacare may not prove any more popular https://t.co/3v2n7Rc0vn pic.twitter.com/I2Dk0jS6tl
— POLITICO (@politico) February 8, 2017
Cancer Policy
Doctor-Patient Communication
A review published in Cancer highlights how greater doctor-patient communication can lead to improved patient satisfaction and lower out-of-pocket expenses. NCCS published a paper based on focus groups on improving doctor-patient communication that was published in the journal Evidence-Based Oncology.
Better physician–patient communication needed about costs of #cancer care https://t.co/w7bQad6FZC @MDAndersonNews
— Healio (@GoHealio) February 7, 2017
Universal Cancer Care
Dr. Oscar Segurado writes a compelling opinion piece in The Hill, “Beyond the moonshot: Achieving universal cancer care.” He writes, “Achieving universal cancer care requires precision and personalized medicine, as well as integrated care, a multi-dimensional approach to ensure patients in need are aware of and have access to life-saving treatments.”
Beyond the moonshot — achieving universal cancer care https://t.co/rRx1nkLJtW
— Oscar Segurado, MD PhD (@Oscarsegurado) February 7, 2017
Coping with Cancer
Financial Toxicity
This editorial highlights the financial trauma of cancer that isn’t discussed often enough. The article outlines what some approaches might be to help reduce the financial impact and lessen the bankruptcy rate of cancer patients.
https://www.heraldchronicle.com/beating-cancer-shouldnt-force-patients-into-bankruptcy-editorial/
Palliative Care
This link is a collection of some summaries of pain studies presented at the Palliative Care Oncology Symposium.
One study from the Albert Einstein College of Medicine, “found that the majority of patients who were tapered to discontinuation of opioid therapy experienced an improvement in pain symptoms.” The study authors recommend “clinicians to develop a more nuanced treatment of pain in cancer survivors.”
Cancer Pain Care Update A Report From The Palliative Care in Oncology Symposiumhttps://t.co/rRVeI8gs7U
— Pain Medicine News (@painmednews) February 8, 2017
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