California Oncology Weekly
"An Oncologists’ Source for Timely Information"
A publication of the
Medical Oncology Association of Southern California, Inc.
February 23, 2021
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Today! MJH Life Sciences California CBPP presents Dr. Ezra Cohen (UCSD Moores Cancer Center) MOASC News
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Friday, February 26, is the deadline for nominations! MOASC News
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Saturday, February 27, Pfizer webinar on Treatment of Relapsed/Refractory ALL Industry News
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Food insecurity mitigated by pop-up food pantries in L.A. County. California News
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President Biden selects Chiquita Brooks-LaSure as CMS administrator. Medicare News/CMS News
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Biden administration removes CMS final rule for faster prior authorization decisions. Medicare News/CMS News
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CDC - Individuals fully vaccinated against the coronavirus do not have to quarantine. National News
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Increase patient and staff engagement through meaningful staff recognition! In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, giving your healthcare heroes the recognition they deserve can make all the difference when dealing with compassion fatigue and burnout. Show appreciation for your front line workers and capture meaningful recognition and improve morale, retention, and satisfaction in your facility.
Help us recognize MOASC outstanding physicians, practitioners, nurses, pharmacists, staff and team, for their dedication to providing quality cancer care during the pandemic.
Please provide a brief summary of why you are nominating this individual or team and why they should be considered for one of the following awards:
Excellence in Leadership
Excellence in Healthcare
Awardees will be announced during the virtual MOASC Annual Oncology Summit, Saturday, March 27, 2021. Thank you.
Please submit your nominations by this Friday, February 26 to moasc@moasc.org
Dedicated, strategic, and innovative members are invited to apply for an appointed leadership position in one of five appointed roles, including MOASC Board of Directors, Officers, Regional Representative and more. Volunteers are integral to MOASC remaining a leading voice of oncology throughout California. We encourage volunteerism at all levels. The life cycle of a volunteer often starts with small tasks and virtual participation and leads to serving on committees and in leadership positions representing MOASC nationally. Becoming involved in your professional association offers benefits for both members and their profession. The accomplishments of MOASC volunteers are recognized throughout the year.
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MOASC Programs - Save the Dates - All Times are Pacific
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March 3, 2021, at 5:30pm MOASC Members are encouraged to attend the webinar, “Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 Vaccine,” with Michael Dutro, PharmD, Vaccines Medical Director, California, New Mexico, Hawaii, Pfizer Biopharma, presenting. (Pharma reps are not allow on this presentation)
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MOASC’S Annual Oncology Summit virtual webinar, Exciting Advances in Oncology, will be presented on Saturday, March 27, 7:00 am - 1:00 pm (PST). Please join us for a virtual presentation by nationally recognized speakers, that will follow a multi-tumor approach, reviewing current management strategies and recent advances in Breast cancer, Colorectal-Genitourinary cancers, Thoracic cancer and Lymphoma. This will be a great opportunity to learn from experts and network with colleagues. This event is free to all those interested in attending.
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MJH Life Sciences brings more southern California CBPP programs to you.
Program 1: Feb. 23rd, with Dr. Ezra Cohen (University of California San Diego Moores Cancer Center)
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Program 2: May 11th, with Dr. David Quinn (USC Norris Comprehensive Cancer Center, Hospital and Clinics).
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Program 3: May 13th, with Dr. Joseph Mikhael (Translational Genomics Research Institute, City of Hope Cancer Center)
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MOASC Job Board
Medical Oncologist in the San Gabriel valley is looking for part-time employment. Attached please find their CV for your review. Thank you in advance for your consideration of this experienced candidate.
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Los Angeles oncology practice seeks temporary, part time RN, Monday & Tuesday, 9am-5pm, for 3 to 3.5 months. Must have experience in mixing and administering chemotherapeutic treatments in clinic. Thank you very much for your consideration.
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Have you checked out the event tab on our Facebook & Twitter page? Keep up to date with #MOASC events by “liking” us on our Facebook page. We post easy-to-share events about the latest news in #oncology.
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Please share with your patients who may be served by the following.
Community Resource Centers, jointly-operated by L.A. Care Health Plan and Blue Shield of California Promise Health Plan, is rolling out a series of drive-thru and walk-up food pantry events across Los Angeles County in response to the growing food insecurity burdening nearly every community. The food distribution events are free and open to everyone. To maximize their food insecurity efforts, the Community Resource Centers will sponsor community based organizations that are already holding pop-up food pantries, and will also host their own drive-thru food distribution events in the neighborhoods they serve.
The L.A. Care and Blue Shield Promise Community Resource Centers offer a range of virtual free classes and services that aim to improve health outcomes, which includes addressing social needs. The following is a list of food distribution events hosted or sponsored by L.A. Care and Blue Shield Promise. This list will be updated regularly.
Compton - March 15
Lancaster - February 26, March 12, March 13,
Los Angeles - February 25, March 25, April 15,
Pacoima - March 20, April 16, May 15, June 19 & July 16,
Palmdale - February 27
Pomona - March 20, May 15
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Because of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, the California Board of Pharmacy’s contracted vendor is experiencing delays in mailing licenses and renewal notices to licensees. Go online to verify your license status, view and print your license record. California law allows the printout of a license record from the Board's website to serve as license verification.
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Healthgrades has published its 2021 America's Best Hospitals lists. Three lists feature America's 50, 100 and 250 best hospitals, which represent the top 1 percent, 2 percent and 5 percent of hospitals in the nation, respectively. Healthgrades used 2017-19 Medicare data to evaluate the performance of nearly 4,500 U.S. hospitals in the treatment of 32 conditions and procedures, including heart attack, pneumonia and sepsis. Healthgrades found patients treated at a facility designated as one of its 2021 best hospitals had a 27.4 percent lower risk of death compared to patients treated at other hospitals.
Here are the 13 California hospitals in the top 50 U.S. hospitals listed by Healthgrades in 2021.
Cedars-Sinai Medical Center (Los Angeles)
Eden Medical Center (Castro Valley)
Hoag Hospital Newport Beach
Kaiser Permanente Baldwin Park Medical Center
Kaiser Permanente San Jose Medical Center
Kaiser Permanente Santa Clara Medical Center
Kaiser Permanente San Rafael Medical Center
Kaiser Permanente Woodland Hills Medical Center
Mills-Peninsula Medical Center (Burlingame)
Northridge Hospital Medical Center
Providence Holy Cross Medical Center (Mission Hills)
Scripps Green Hospital (La Jolla)
Sutter Roseville Medical Center
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Noridian News
COVID-19: Revised Clinician Codes Accepted with CS Modifier. CMS updated the list of codes that physicians and non-physician practitioners can use with the Cost-Sharing (CS) modifier. For dates of service on or after January 1, 2021, through the end of the public health emergency.
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License and Certificate Renewals
Whether you are an individual, a group or a facility, it is a best practice to submit licenses and certifications upon their renewal to keep your enrollment up to date. This helps avoid potential claim denials, deactivations, or revocations.
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A webinar on February 25, 2021 regarding these E&M - 99202-99215 and Related Services includes: 2021 Change Summary, Office and Outpatient Services, Time Component, Medical Decision Making, and Resources.
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Coding and billing guidelines for COVID-19 vaccine administration- March 2, 2021
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CMS News
President Biden has selected Chiquita Brooks-LaSure to lead the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. Brooks-LaSure served in the Obama administration as a senior CMS official who helped implement the Affordable Care Act’s coverage expansion and insurance-market reforms.
The Biden administration seems to have withdrawn a CMS final rule, requiring health insurers to release faster decisions on prior authorization requests and to use application programming interfaces for sharing prior authorization data, as it does not appear on the Federal Register and the news release announcing the rule can no longer be found on the CMS website. The matter is currently under CMS review.
CMS Takes Further Steps to Ensure Medicare Beneficiaries Have Wide Access to COVID-19 Antibody Treatment. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration issued an Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) for the investigational monoclonal antibody therapy, bamlanivimab and etesevimab, administered together, for the treatment of mild-to-moderate COVID-19 in adults and pediatric patients with positive COVID-19 test results who are at high risk for progressing to severe COVID-19 and/or hospitalization. Bamlanivimab and etesevimab, administered together, may only be administered in settings in which health care providers have immediate access to medications to treat a severe infusion reaction, such as anaphylaxis, and the ability to activate the Emergency Medical System (EMS), as necessary.
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The CDC said individuals who are fully vaccinated against the coronavirus do not have to quarantine following exposure to a person suspected of having or positive for COVID-19 if they meet specific criteria. Quarantine recommendations for vaccinated people will be revised and updated when more vaccines are authorized and as more data becomes available.
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Clinical documentation scribes did not reduce the amount of time primary care professionals take to respond to patient portal messages, handle prescription refill requests or send test results, according to a study published in the Journal of the American Board of Family Medicine. The findings suggest scribes don't have much of an impact on how quickly out-of-visit tasks are completed, and their benefit may be in other areas, such as productivity, the researchers wrote.
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UnitedHealthcare has developed a ZIP-code tool to help members find FDA-authorized vaccine resources near them. The resources include information on who can get a vaccine, where vaccines are being given, how to schedule an appointment to get a vaccine and how to sign up for alerts.
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United Healthcare provides three resources to submit COVID-19 vaccine administration claims. These will help you manage the claim submission and reimbursement process. You should not bill UnitedHealthcare members at the time of service for any costs associated with the COVID-19 vaccine. There is no cost to the member for the COVID-19 vaccine, and most plans are covering the administration of the COVID-19 vaccine at no cost share for the member.
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Affiliate Association News |
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ANCO News
21st Multidisciplinary Management of Cancers meeting to be held March 12-14, 2021. The 2021 program represents a collaborative effort of expert clinicians from the Stanford Cancer Institute, University of California, Davis, University of California, San Francisco, and the Association of Northern California Oncologists. The program will be held virtually.
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ASH News
Registration is Open for the 2021 Highlights of ASH Series. This year’s all-virtual experience will take place March 1 – April 2, 2021 and feature program curated annual meeting content derived from all four regions ASH has historically presented in: North America, the Mediterranean, Asia-Pacific, and Latin America.
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The virtual ASCO Annual Meeting is scheduled for June 4-8, 2021. The early registration deadline is April 28, 2021 at 8:59 PM (PT).
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COA News
See Community Oncology from a New Perspective at the 2021 Community Oncology Conference! The Free-Virtual conference is April 8 & 9, 2021. With the power of the internet, data and knowledge are readily available. What’s harder to find are the outside perspectives like the ones you’ll find at the Community Oncology Conference. The COA Conference is so much more than just best-in-class educational programs. As a practice administrator, you are always in search of other administrators with whom to work through new care and resource models. Not only does the Conference offer unmatched opportunities to hear from key players in our field, but more importantly, the content is focused on the needs of independent, community oncology practices. Learn about social determinants of health and how other practices are incorporating this data into their workflow. Economic and racial differences greatly affect how we provide care and patient outcomes, get a deeper understanding of how we can address our community’s needs.
There’s something for every member of community oncology, which is why you can bring a large contingent from your practice.
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COA Administrator’s Network (CAN) has addressed the issue of step/fail first iron therapy. The following is what CAN has done to stop these policies.
1) Sent letters to every medical director of national payers, describing how their policies hinder quality cancer care, adds unnecessary total costs and can be harmful to patients.
2) Sent letters to every Congressional health aide to make them aware of these policies while including some of the above.
3) Work with AMAG Pharmaceuticals (feraheme) in sharing their resources and templates on when and how they can help. Contact your AMAG, or other iron therapy rep, for additional guidance.
Aetna has relaxed some of their requirements and are shifting towards prior authorizations.
There have been some success stories when a peer-to-peer review is requested.
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NCCN News
NCCN has published updates for Kidney Cancer v2.2021, Thyroid Carcinoma v3.2020, and Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia v2.2021.
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Pfizer Oncology invites MOASC members to their upcoming webinar on the Treatment of Relapsed/Refractory ALL on February 27, 2021. Topics will include:
Current treatment options in R/R ALL; Multidisciplinary team (MDT) evaluation of an HSCT-eligible patient case; Analyses from the phase 3 trial of a potential treatment option, including the impact of MRD and HSCT.
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Sanofi announced that the FDA approved the PD-1 inhibitor Libtayo® (cemiplimab-rwlc) as the first immunotherapy indicated for patients with advanced basal cell carcinoma (BCC) previously treated with a hedgehog pathway inhibitor (HHI) or for whom an HHI is not appropriate. Full approval was granted for patients with locally advanced BCC and accelerated approval was granted for patients with metastatic BCC.
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BeiGene, Ltd., announced that the FDA has accepted a supplemental new drug application (sNDA) for BRUKINSA® (zanubrutinib) for the treatment of adult patients with Waldenström’s Macroglobulinemia (WM).
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Incyte announced that the FDA accepted Priority Review for the supplemental New Drug Application (sNDA) for ruxolitinib (Jakafi®) for treatment of steroid-refractory chronic graft-versus-host disease (GVHD) in adult and pediatric patients 12 years and older. The sNDA submission is based on results from the Phase 3, randomized REACH3 study comparing ruxolitinib with best available therapy (BAT) in patients with steroid-refractory chronic GVHD. In the REACH3 study, which was recently presented at the 62nd American Society of Hematology (ASH) Annual Meeting & Exposition, patients treated with ruxolitinib experienced a significantly greater overall response rate (ORR) compared to BAT at Week 24, the primary endpoint (49.7% vs. 25.6%; p<0.0001).
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AstraZeneca cordially invites MOASC Members to their upcoming Enhertu Advanced Gastric Broadcast Presentation. The program will discover a new indication for Enhertu and how it may help certain patients with unmet need. On March 4, 2021 at 6:30PM EST and 8:30PM EST.
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Agios Pharmacuticals presents three Virtual Disease Awareness webinars on Pyruvate Kinase Deficiency: An Under recognized Cause of Chronic Hemolytic Anemia on March 23rd, 31st and April 8th
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Immunomedics announced the first and only ADC FDA approval of Trodelvy™ (sacituzumab govitecan-hziy) for patients with metastatic triple-negative breast cancer (mTNBC) who have received at least 2 prior therapies for metastatic disease.
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The Medical Oncology Association of Southern California (MOASC) is a leading oncology society that advances and protects the ability of cancer patients to obtain, and the ability of the oncology physicians to provide, optimal cancer care. The material contained in the California Oncology Weekly is intended as general information for MOASC members. Because diagnostic, treatment, contracting, coding, and billing decisions should be made on a case-by-case basis, any such information contained in the California Oncology Weekly may not apply in any given situation. Members are encouraged to contact their own consultants or advisors to obtain specific advice on matters relating to contracting, coding, and billing. The information contained in California Oncology Weekly should not be used as a substitute for such advice. This publication provides a summary of regulations affecting oncology and its business practices. Reading this newsletter does not substitute for understanding regulations and verifying the validity of every claim. This information is time-sensitive and is subject to change. MOASC accepts no liability for any statements or articles herein. CPT codes are owned and trademarked by the American Medical Association. All Rights Reserved.
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