Highmark Launches Pennsylvania Cancer Collaborative
By Christine Kern, contributing writer
Highmark, Allegheny Health Network, and Johns Hopkins unite to further best practices in Cancer Care
Highmark Inc., an independent licensee of the Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association, has announced its new Highmark Cancer Collaborative, brining together Highmark, Allegheny Health Network (AHN) Cancer Institute, and the Johns Hopkins Kimmel Cancer Center to create a replicable model that furthers best practices in cancer care.
Among the initiatives that are part of the five-year Highmark Cancer Collaborative are: implementation of treatment pathways founded on best practices; provider reimbursement methods to reward those best practices; and removal of administrative barriers that could impact patients' access to care. The Collaborative also offers access to early stage clinical trials and second opinions for patients with rare and complex cancers at Johns Hopkins Kimmel Cancer Center.
According to Trib Live, the agreement allows AHN oncologists to get second opinions from Johns Hopkins physicians, and pulls the three organizations together on professional education and cancer prevention programs. “Allegheny Health Network, working in collaboration with Johns Hopkins Kimmel Cancer Center, provides best-in-class, evidence-based clinical care for the complete spectrum of malignant diseases,” said David Parda, MD, Chair of the AHN Cancer Institute. “Our goal with this collaborative is to create decision support tools to guide physicians across western Pennsylvania and beyond based on the most advanced medical science. The idea is to reduce pockets of unwarranted variation in cancer care while ensuring that leading-edge cancer treatment protocols are available to everyone who needs them.”
The Highmark Cancer Collaborative uses the National Comprehensive Cancer Network guidelines provide the basis for protocols and the decision support software used by the Highmark Cancer Collaborative and its clinicians.
The Cancer Collaborative strives to not only lower costs for cancer patients’ treatment, but also to improve their comfort, safety, and outcomes. The Collaborative also gives cancer patient access to Phase 1 and 2 clinical trials at Johns Hopkins and Phase 2 and 3 studies at AHN's Cancer Institute, according to The Pittsburgh Business Times.
“Clinical trials are critical to developing new methods of preventing, detecting and treating cancer, and patients who participate in them gain access to the very latest research and innovative treatments,” noted William Nelson, M.D., Ph.D., Director of the Sidney Kimmel Comprehensive Cancer Center.
“In addition, we look forward to collaborating with AHN's Cancer Institute, offering second opinions for Highmark members with rare and complex cancers. Together we can create value by applying tumor level expertise to the process of making cancer treatment decisions for these rare and complex cancers, assuring that patients are treated for the right tumor, at the right time, in the right setting.”
The Highmark Cancer Collaborative is being piloted among Highmark members in western Pennsylvania, with a long-term goal of replicating the model across additional Highmark markets.