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Are you ready for the next wave of specialty care management?
Managing specialty care today is a daunting task.
The healthcare industry is seeing an unprecedented
period of rapid innovation, bringing new therapies
to market that can greatly improve quality of life.
This is great news, but these advancements also bring
challenges for health plans. Payers must determine
whether new therapies are cost-effective, and whether
the latest technologies are truly the best choice
for patients. Without specialty experts to provide
guidance, it can be difficult for payers to identify the
best treatment options.
Take, for example, oncology and the introduction of newer treatments like
immune checkpoint inhibitors and CAR-T cell therapies. While they are far more
effective for specific indications than conventional drugs, they are also much
more expensive.
Andrew Hertler, Chief Medical Officer at New Century Health, explored the
impact of this trend in a recent discussion on specialty care management.
Dr. Hertler notes the cost of new drugs has increased nearly 200% since
2000, with the median annual treatment cost per patient of new drugs launched
in 2017 exceeding $150,000. The pace of innovation, volume of published
clinical evidence, and complexity of clinical decisions exceeds the capacity
of an individual physician to keep treatment options "top of mind." In addition,
the cost of these drugs can make it difficult to ensure consistent care for cancer
patients. New measures, such as value-based pathways, are needed to help guide
care decisions.
The following is an
executive summary
of an AHIP featured
webinar on managing the
complexities of specialty
care presented by New
Century Health ("NCH")
in October 2018.
The cost of new drugs has increased nearly 200%
since 2000, with the median annual treatment
cost per patient of new drugs launched in 2017
exceeding $150,000.
