September 2013

This "learning health system" prototype was first unveiled on March 27 at an ASCO-hosted panel discussion on big data in cancer care at the National Press Club in Washington, DC.

Traditionally, payers have been increasingly more proactive in their management of drug expenditures in cancers with the highest prevalence and with the more costly therapeutics.

Governor Steve Beshear did not sugarcoat the data on May 9, 2013, when he said Kentucky would take an offer it couldn't refuse. With his state ranked worst in the nation in smoking and cancer deaths, and not far behind in heart disease, Beshear was "tired of being at the bottom."

Increasing financial and administrative pressures-exacerbated by the federal sequester and continued rollout of the Affordable Care Act-have created instability and uncertainty for oncology practices nationwide.