“M” was diagnosed with a rare skull-based cancer. A one-in-a-million diagnosis, he was given little information about his diagnosis and told he must seek care outside his home state. “M” worked full time, was the primary caretaker for two young kids, and could not fathom how he could travel to another state for treatment. He did not come to his scheduled out-of-state appointment. It was just too difficult. “M” was fortunate to have an older daughter who became involved in his healthcare, but she worked full time, had three young kids, and lived in a state far from her dad. Flying to join her father to help coordinate health care in person would have meant time away from work, obtaining childcare, and the expense of a flight and hotel.
Tag: oncology
Providing Cancer Care in the Age of COVID-19
By Samyukta Mullangi, Johnetta Blakeley, and Stephen Schleicher
The COVID-19 pandemic has brought many challenges to oncology care; an area of medicine that typically involves frequent, in-person patient visits to complete a course of treatment.
In many ways, COVID-19 has served as a stress test for the specialty, and has catalyzed adaptive changes that we hope will make the oncology care, and the health care system in general, more resilient going forward.
Monthly Round-Up of What to Read on Pharma Law and Policy
By Ameet Sarpatwari, Charlie Lee, Frazer Tessema, and Aaron S. Kesselheim
Each month, members of the Program On Regulation, Therapeutics, And Law (PORTAL) review the peer-reviewed medical literature to identify interesting empirical studies, policy analyses, and editorials on health law and policy issues relevant to current or potential future work in the Division.
Below are the abstracts/summaries for papers identified from the month of December. The selections feature topics ranging from potential Medicare savings on inhaler prescriptions through use of negotiated prices and a defined formulary, to evaluation of the REMS for extended-release/long-acting opioids, to the costs of medication non-adherence in adults with atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease in the US. A full posting of abstracts/summaries of these articles may be found on our website. Read More