The Thymes: Navigating the Cancer Care Landscape
Summer 2024 is officially in full swing, and before we head into the July 4th long weekend, we wanted to share our latest edition of The Thymes. The Thymes is our quarterly newsletter, exploring the latest news, transformations, and developments in cancer care.
This edition highlights recent changes to CMS’s Enhancing Oncology Model, the economic implications of higher-than-necessary drug doses in cancer care, and the increasing use of virtual palliative care in oncology. Additionally, we highlight the latest updates from Thyme Care and preview upcoming fall conferences.
Let’s dive in! And don’t forget to subscribe to follow along with the latest roundup of cancer care news. Thanks for following along!
“Thyme Care’s Takes” – The Current State of Cancer Care Today
- [CMS Expands the Enhancing Oncology Model: A Triumph for Value-Based Cancer Care Access and Innovation]: In late May, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services announced it is opening up its value-based cancer care model, the Enhancing Oncology Model (EOM) to another pool of applicants and making improvements to the current model. This is a major step forward in making value-based cancer care more achievable to oncology practices currently in the EOM and for others considering joining. Thyme Care currently supports practices in the EOM to reduce the technical, operational, and financial complexity and improve the quality of care for patients, and we look forward to supporting more practices that choose to join this new cohort. For more about what this means for oncology practices, we break it down here.
- [Reducing the Financial Toxicity of Cancer Treatment: the FDA’s Efforts to Optimize Existing Drug Protocols]: The FDA is pushing for better dosing practices to reduce the financial impact of cancer drug costs, while balancing its effectiveness and patient quality of life. This is great news, but there are opportunities that don’t require FDA intervention. Through our work with oncology practices, Thyme Care partners with oncologists and their in-house pharmacy teams to identify and implement dosing interventions to reduce oncologic drug spend and the toxicity of overtreatment. Read more about how Thyme Care and its partners reduce drug spend here.
- [Virtual Palliative Care in Oncology Goes Mainstream]: A new study presented at the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) meeting last month shows that virtual palliative care for advanced cancer patients is as effective as in-person care. This finding suggests that telehealth can enhance access to palliative care, improving quality of life without compromising care effectiveness. At Thyme Care, we are integrating virtual palliative care into our oncology care model to ensure eligible members and their caregivers get access to specialized psychosocial-emotional support as they navigate living with cancer. Read more here.
Hot off the Press
- In a recent opinion editorial for Oliver Wyman Health Insights, Thyme Care president and chief operating officer Bradford Diephuis explores how payers are bending the cost curve with specialty-based care enablers in nephrology, cardiology, and oncology. An aging population, resumption of procedures postponed by COVID, and rises in home health care have produced sky-high utilization rates, market warnings, and stock sell-offs across the board. In an attempt to get a handle on things, insurers are collaborating with specialty care partners to reduce costs and improve outcomes. Read more in Oliver Wyman Health Insights.
- We recently launched Thyme Care’s ‘Enhanced Supportive Care’, a virtual palliative care support program to assist eligible members and caregivers with managing physical and psychological symptoms accompanying cancer diagnosis and treatment. The program will be led by Dr. Julia Frydman , our first medical director for palliative care, who joins us from the geriatric and palliative medicine program at New York City's Mount Sinai Health System. Read more in this MobiHealthNews exclusive.
- Thyme Care CEO Robin Shah was named as one of Ernst and Young’s Entrepreneur of the Year Southwest Finalists. For nearly 40 years, this award has recognized audacious, game-changing business leaders. These are entrepreneurs who have ushered in innovation — disrupting industries and are creating new product categories — while lifting up their employees and communities. We’re proud to see Thyme Care named among these esteemed finalists.
In Case you Missed It - Thyme Care and AON's Strategy to Lower Costs and Improve Outcomes in the Enhancing Oncology Model (EOM)
Oncology is facing an inflection point, as costs continue to rise and the push towards value-based care (VBC) intensifies. However, successfully implementing VBC programs is resource-intensive for practices and challenging for payers to scale.
Thyme Care and the American Oncology Network (AON) are overcoming these challenges together. Through operational support and 24/7 wraparound navigation, Thyme Care has partnered with AON to implement and scale VBC support to EOM-eligible patients, acting as an extension of AON's network of over 220 providers.
Thyme Care provides AON’s eligible patients with a dedicated Care Team to help them navigate barriers to care, while partnering with AON providers to identify and operationalize high-impact opportunities to appropriately reduce drug spend and lower financial toxicity for patients.
Together, Thyme Care and AON are bending the oncology cost curve, all while continuing to provide the highest standard of patient care.
Mark your calendars!
While it may be summer, fall conference season is just around the corner! Here are just a few of the events Thyme Care is gearing up for in Q3. Planning on attending one of these events? Reach out to meet with our team.
- Cancer Care Business Exchange - September 6-8; Boston, MA – Join us as Thyme Care speaks on “Managing Risk in Oncology” and “Extending Care Management to the Home”
- COA Payer Exchange Summit - September 9-10; Reston, VA
- Oliver Wyman Health Innovation Summit - September 16-18; Chicago, IL
- DHNY Summit - September 18; New York, NY – Join our CEO, Robin Shah , who will be speaking on a panel about specialty value-based care.
- Health Evolution Connect - September 23-25; Nashville, TN
- ASCO Quality Care Symposium - September 27-28; San Francisco, CA
Want to learn more about how Thyme Care’s purpose-built approach can support your oncology population? Reach out and one of our team members will be in touch.