Clinical Conversations With the Cancer Care Team: Striving for Equitable Access to Oral Anticancer Medications

This activity is accredited for law credit.

Program Description

The rapid development of oral anticancer medications (OAMs) has revolutionized cancer care. The current landscape of OAMs continues to evolve, with 50% of oncology approvals being OAMs. Patients using OAMs may have infrequent clinic appointments, so a significant challenge with OAMs relates to patient adherence and pharmacist intervention. With less face-to-face involvement, pharmacists are challenged with monitoring patients’ success with OAMs and seeing their progress first-hand. Compared with clinic visits for infusion therapies multiple times within a month, OAMs may seem like a more appealing alternative, but OAM treatment creates different challenges. Patients receiving OAMs may choose to discontinue treatment due to financial toxicity. Oncology pharmacists will benefit from education because they will be able to advocate for and better comprehend their patient’s financial and physical wellbeing. This activity will also review billing and reimbursement structure of OAMs, assess financial toxicity, evaluate state parity laws, and identify ways to advocate for OAM parity laws on behalf of patients with cancer. A deeper knowledge of OAMs, their benefits, and the laws surrounding them will ultimately help pharmacists advocate for greater OAM accessibility, which will assist them in educating their patients and multidisciplinary team and providing the best guidance.

Target audience: Health-system pharmacists, specialty pharmacists, oncology pharmacists, and managed care pharmacists

Type of activity: Application
Release date: July 11, 2023
Expiration date: July 11, 2024

Time to complete activity: 1.5 hours

Learner level: Foundational
Fee: Free

Educational Objectives

At the completion of this activity, participants will be able to:

• Explore the billing and reimbursement structure of oral anticancer medications (OAMs) among various types of prescription insurance plans
• Determine the impact of financial toxicity associated with OAMs on treatment outcomes
• Examine the status of OAM state parity laws that are currently in place
• Identify ways in which the multidisciplinary cancer care team can advocate for OAM parity laws on behalf of patients with cancer

Pharmacy Times Continuing Education™ is accredited by the Accreditation Council for Pharmacy Education (ACPE) as a provider of continuing pharmacy education. This activity is approved for 1.5 contact hours (0.15 CEU) under the ACPE universal activity number 0290-0000-23-296-H03-P. The activity is available for CE credit through July 11, 2024.

Instructions for Completing the Activity and Receiving CPE Credit

To receive CPE credit, participants must complete the pretest, review the activity in its entirety, complete the posttest, and complete the online activity evaluation. After successful completion of the online activity evaluation, you can submit your credit to CPE Monitor. You may view your credit within 48 hours at www.mycpemonitor.net. All participants must request credit before the activity expiration date. CE credit will not be issued after this date.

Disclosures

The following contributors have no relevant financial relationships with commercial interests to disclose:

Faculty

Mark Hamm, PharmD, MBA, BCSCP

Susan Fugett, MSW, LISW-S, OSW-C, CSW-G, CS-TMH

Lauren Ghazal, PhD, FNP-BC

Meera Ragavan, MD, MPH

Pharmacy Times Continuing Education™ Planning Staff—Jim Palatine, RPh, MBA; Amy H. Seung, PharmD, BCOP, FHOPA, CHCP; Crissy Wilson; Susan Pordon; Brianna Winters; and Chloe Taccetta.

Medical Writing and Editorial Support

Elenna Smalley, PharmD, BCPS

Pharmacy Times Continuing Education^™ Planning Staff— Daphne Davis, PharmD, BCOP, has the following financial relationship with a commercial interest to disclose:

Former employee: GSK

An anonymous peer reviewer was used as part of content validation and conflict resolution. The peer reviewer has no relevant financial relationships with commercial interests to disclose.

Educational Disclaimer
CPE activities are offered solely for educational purposes and do not constitute any form of professional advice or referral. Discussions concerning drugs, dosages, and procedures may reflect the clinical experience of the author(s) or they may be derived from the professional literature or other sources and may suggest uses that are investigational in nature and not approved labeling or indications. Participants are encouraged to refer to primary references or full prescribing information resources.

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