Policy Strategies for the “New Normal” in Healthcare to Ensure Access to High-Quality Cancer Care

Authors:
Alyssa A. Schatz National Comprehensive Cancer Network, Plymouth Meeting, Pennsylvania;

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Katy Winckworth Prejsnar National Comprehensive Cancer Network, Plymouth Meeting, Pennsylvania;

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James McCanney National Comprehensive Cancer Network, Plymouth Meeting, Pennsylvania;

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Meghan Gutierrez City of Hope Comprehensive Cancer Center, Duarte, California;

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Stefanie Joho Research/Patient advocate, and consultant, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; and

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Joseph Alvarnas Lymphoma Research Foundation, New York, New York.

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Robert W. Carlson National Comprehensive Cancer Network, Plymouth Meeting, Pennsylvania;

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In recent years, oncology has seen a rapid increase in the introduction of high-cost innovative therapies while scrutiny around drug pricing has simultaneously amplified. Significant policy shifts impacting health coverage and benefit design are also being implemented, including narrow network health plans, uncertainty around the Affordable Care Act insurance exchanges, and threats to preexisting condition protections. Shifting health coverage policy combined with high drug prices and outdated reimbursement systems may create barriers to patient access to innovation and high-quality cancer care. To understand how trends in health policy are impacting the oncology ecosystem, NCCN convened the NCCN Policy Summit: Policy Strategies for the “New Normal” in Healthcare to Ensure Access to High-Quality Cancer Care on June 25, 2018. The summit included discussion of how innovation is changing cancer treatment, care delivery, and ways health systems are responding; the impact of narrow networks on access to academic cancer centers; and how the evolving health policy landscape is affecting access to high-quality cancer care for patients.

Correspondence: Alyssa A. Schatz, MSW, National Comprehensive Cancer Network, 3025 Chemical Road, Suite 100, Plymouth Meeting, PA 19462. Email: schatz@nccn.org

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