A commitment is a decision made once.
Monthly Archives: September 2016
Cartoon – Making You Feel Engaged
Cartoon – Improving Corporate Culture
Cartoon – Who can define Values?
Cancer immunotherapy is moving fast. Here’s what you need to know.
The idea of using the body’s immune system to fight cancer has been around for a century, but only in the past half a dozen years have dramatic breakthroughs begun rocking the medical world.
“That’s when the tsunami came,” says Drew Pardoll, director of the Bloomberg-Kimmel Institute for Cancer Immunology at Johns Hopkins University, and those advances are spawning hundreds of clinical trials nationwide, plus generating intense interest from patients, physicians and investors.
Many cancer researchers compare the progress to medical milestones such as the discovery of penicillin or the development of chemotherapy. Over the next decade, the growth in the field will be “exponential,” predicts Philip Greenberg, head of the immunology program at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center. “Making something better is enormously different than making something work that doesn’t work.”
At the same time, researchers remember the past anti-cancer efforts that fizzled after initially showing promise. That explains the consensus sentiment at this week’s international immunotherapy conference in New York: Turning science into cures will take years of perseverance against daunting hurdles.
Here’s a primer about new treatments and how they work:
Specialty Drug Costs Soar 30% For California Pension Fund
Specialty drug costs jumped 30 percent last year to $587 million for the California Public Employees’ Retirement System, one of the nation’s largest health care purchasers.
Though they amount to less than 1 percent of all prescriptions, specialty drugs accounted for more than a quarter of the state agency’s $2.1 billion in total pharmacy costs. Those overall drug costs have climbed 40 percent since 2010.
The new figures show just how much financial pressure many employers and government agencies face from rising drug costs and why it’s become such a hot topic in California politics and on the presidential campaign trail.
Hepatitis C drugs drove much of the increase for the state retirement system during 2015, as did two rheumatoid arthritis drugs. Drugs for cancer and multiple sclerosis were also among the top 10 specialty drugs for CalPERS.
CalPERS spent the most, $94.5 million, on Harvoni, a hepatitis C drug. It is sold by Gilead Sciences Inc., whose steep prices have drawn public outrage and government scrutiny. The agency spent an additional $16.6 million on Sovaldi, another Gilead drug for hepatitis C.
Apart from specialty medications, CalPERS’ highest-cost drugs were Lantus, for diabetes; Advair, an asthma inhaler; and Crestor, a cholesterol medicine. Painkiller OxyContin rounded out the top 10 at $14.3 million, according to state data.
More than 5 percent of CalPERS’ total drug spending — $118 million — went for Humira and Enbrel, two anti-inflammatory biotech drugs that don’t face competition from lower-priced generics.
POLITICO-Harvard poll: Americans blame drug companies for rising health costs
The poll found 43 percent of Americans are “very or somewhat” worried about medical costs in the coming year, and the top concern (31 percent) is their out-of-pocket costs.
Saint Vincent Hospital sued for firing six employees who refused flu shots
The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission is accusing Erie, Pa.-based Saint Vincent Hospital of religious discrimination, reports Erie Times-News.
The commission filed a lawsuit Thursday in U.S. District Court in Erie, alleging Saint Vincent fired six employees who refused to get flu shots due to their religious beliefs, according to the article. At the same time, the group contends, the hospital granted medical exemptions to 14 other employees in late 2013 and early 2014, according to the article.
The commission claims the hospital violated Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.
Saint Vincent officials said in a statement obtained by Erie Times-News that the hospital’s “mandatory flu vaccination policy allows employees to apply for an exemption to the policy based upon religious beliefs or health concerns. Requests for exemption are always given careful and appropriate consideration. We respectfully disagree with the (commission’s) position and characterization of how the employee claims outlined in this lawsuit were handled by the hospital.”
According to the report, the commission previously attempted to reach a settlement with Saint Vincent, which is now part of Pittsburgh-based Allegheny Health Network.
Geisinger to buy medical school, insiders say deal will close by 2017
Danville, Pa.-based Geisinger Health System has plans to purchase Scranton, Pa.-based The Commonwealth Medical College, reports The Citizens’ Voice.
The new medical school will be dubbed the Geisinger Commonwealth College of Medicine.
Geisinger President and CEO David Feinberg, MD, and TCMC President and Dean Steven Scheinman, MD, will officially announce the deal during a conference at the medical school Sept. 28.
Though Geisinger’s board and TCMC’s board have approved the acquisition, it still awaits regulatory approval. The deal is expected to be complete by Jan. 1, 2017.
TCMC, which currently has 480 students, opened its doors in 2009. By 2011, the Liaison Committee on Medical Education put it on probation due to financial struggles. Though TCMC considered affiliating with the University of Scranton (Pa.), talks dissolved in 2012. The LCME lifted its probation a few months later.
How to build execution into your new strategy
One of the many challenges facing today’s healthcare strategists involves convincing the C-suite and leadership teams, as well as the entire organization, to implement a new strategy. Even when the new idea is supported by abundant data and there are excellent reasons to embrace the strategy, far too often change is a hard sell, and even harder to make happen.
In fact, change is painful, not only for organizations but also for the individuals working within them. Choosing a new direction, moving into new markets, altering processes in order to embrace MACRA or shifting to value-payment models may all be necessary–but very challenging to implement. Many times, people prefer to stay wedded to old ideas and prior strategic directions.
HENRY KOTULA 