Oncology Business Management

According to an article published in the June 17, 2008 edition of the New York Times, declining reimbursements, managed care, physician shortages (especially in primary care), and concerns about malpractice are contributing to doctors' discontent.

New Research Presented at ASCO Highlights Advantages of Pegfilgrastim in Patients Receiving Chemotherapy for a Wide Variety of Solid Tumors and Hematologic Malignancies

One of the most uncomfortable consequences of anticancer therapy is the development of oral mucositis.

Combining a modified version of a commonly used chemotherapy medication with Positron Emission Tomography (PET), researchers at UCLA have achieved a breakthrough in immune system modeling and treatment response monitoring.

Despite the enormous potential of electronic health records (EHRs) and other health IT applications, very few providers have adopted them.

The Internet can be an amazingly useful educational resource for patients who have been diagnosed with cancer. It can also be the source of potentially dangerous misinformation.

Rafael Fonseca, MD, is a professor of medicine at Mayo Clinic and a consultant in the Division of Hematology/Oncology.

Dr. Adil Daud is a clinical physician and medical researcher, certified by the American Board of Internal Medicinein both oncology and hematology.

Does the word "free" grab your attention? It sure gets mine.

Cell phone applications and other high-tech tools are changing the way physicians approach patient education.

Health literacy requires more than just knowing how to read. It involves a number of additional skills, including listening, analyzing, and decisionmaking.

The seeds of CCE were planted nearly three years ago, when some OTN-affiliated physicians decided that they needed to start working more closely together to help advance care in their field. The privately fi nanced company formally started in April 2007.

New genomics-based tests are helping oncologists answer one of the most basic, yet often challenging, questions in cancer care: What kind of cancer does the patient have?

5 Questions with Charles Morris, MD, VP of Worldwide Clinical Research, for Cephalon Oncology.

Many of our patients are using the Internet to look up their diagnoses and medications as soon as they get home from our offices.

We must overcome all of the technical, political, and economical obstacles NOW. The need for system efficiency and patient safety demands it.

A year later, as we read and watch the breathless coverage devoted to recent moves by Google, Microsoft, and Apple, we are left asking "is healthcare IT worth the hype?"

Oncologists must come to grips with the fact that healthcare is becoming increasingly service-oriented and consumer-centric.

Lately, ultrasound has been used to increase sampling accuracy. Trans-thoracic ultrasound does not provide adequate guidance because of the difficulty in imaging the mediastinum

It was not for several years until I started really reading professional development and then medical blogs. And somewhat to my surprise, I found them quite useful professionally.

Continuity of care is important during active treatment. A cancer diagnosis is confusing and frightening, and the treatments administered may produce adverse reactions.

The Internet has evolved beyond its origins as a collection of interconnected websites with static information.

Matthew Holt is a ubiquitous presence in the online world of Health 2.0. He is the proprietor of The Health Care Blog, essential reading that promises to tell you �everything you always wanted to know about the health care system.

E-detailing is currently being piloted, or is at least under consideration, by many pharmaceutical companies as a way to maximize sales force time, cut costs, and increase interaction with physicians.

Doug Farrago, MD, is a full-time practicing physician in Auburn, ME, and the founder of the Placebo Journal (www.placebojournal.com), which is meant to â��empower physicians with a skill that is sorely lacking â�" humor.â��

Anirban Bandyopadhyay, PhD, artifi cial intelligence and molecular electronics scientist, National Institute for Materials Science at Tsukuba, Japan, talks about the "Nano-brain," a brain neuron-inspired, microscopic computer made up of 17 duroquinone molecules sitting in a ring pattern on a gold surface. The assembly has the potential to perform more than 4.3 billion commands at once, and could have far-reaching implications for medicine.

Despite improvements in screening that result in detecting this colorectal cancer in earlier stages, the disease remains the second leading cause of cancer death in men and the third in women.

The recent FDA approval for Avastin has sparked discussion about the approval of pharmaceuticals that may improve quality of life but do not necessarily extend life.

According to Internet World Stats, access to the Internet varies greatly based on geographic location, in one estimate (December 2007) ranging from as high as 71% of the population of North America to less than 5% in Africa.

In the coming months, you will probably hear and read a lot about personal health records, as two technology heavyweights roll out initiatives designed to spur the mass consumerization of health information. The race between Google and Microsoft to apply the resources of the Internet to personalized healthcare might be great for consumers, but how will physicians benefit, if at all?