Oncology and Technology

The OCM (Oncology Care Model), launched in 2016, is a payment model designed to help oncology centers transition from the traditional Medicare Fee-for-Service (FFS) payment structure and focus on high-value care.

The EOM (Enhancing Oncology Model) is the next phase model and will replace OCM starting July 1, 2023. EOM will support clinicians caring for patients with seven common cancer types, focusing on health equity and accountable, affordable care.

But what are the revenue-enhancing opportunities in EOM, is it worth the transition from OCM, and what does it actually provide?

On today’s episode of Technology and Oncology Podcast, host Michelle Dawn Mooney speaks with John Elliot, the Vice President of Sales at Carevīve to discuss how oncology centers and clinics can transition from OCM to EOM and how they can get assistance for the process.

Michelle Dawn Mooney and John Elliot discussed:

1.What clients should expect after approval and assistance available to meet the July 1 deadline for launching

2.Benefits of EOM to oncology patients

3.Where people can find more information and assistance on the topic

“Looking at oncology, efficiency is key, however, there are limited constrained resources. 24/7 access to electronic records, having a line of communication, capturing symptoms at the right time, access to care with the focus of addressing challenges in the oncology and health care sector which can improve patient outcome and reduce cost – this is what the EOM aims to achieve. The EOM model bridges the gap of communication and ensures members of the care team are aware of what is happening in real-time, which promotes standardization of care,” explained John Elliot.

John Elliot is the Vice President of Sales at Carevīve. He received his Bachelor of Arts degree in Advertising from Southern Methodist University and his Master of Business Administration from Washington University in St. Louis-Olin Business School. He has over ten years of experience working with oncology centers.

For anyone working in the oncology field, a highly anticipated change set to take place will be one of the biggest transitions in recent years. Last year, it was announced that the Oncology Care Model (OCM) will be phased out and succeeded with the Enhanced Oncology Model (EOM). This new model will go into effect in July 2023 and help improve care for cancer patients.

What are the people who work in the oncology field most looking forward to with the forthcoming new model implementation? And what are their expectations for cancer care?

In the latest episode of “Oncology and Technology,” host Tyler Kern sat down to interview with several members of the Carevive team, John Elliot, VP of Sales; Reesa Sherin, Clinical Strategist; and April Boyd, Clinical Product Manager, mostly about the state of the oncology, and what current trends will remain or seeing advancements next year.

Kern, Elliot, Sherin, and Boyd also talked about …

1.Educational events held in preparation for the shift to EOM

2.What clinicians will value in terms of the new models and how they expect to implement

3.How the shift will change oncology and cancer patient care

“The big shift, I think, just in healthcare broadly and then specifically to oncology, has been continued evaluation and how health systems and cancer centers are evaluating a shift to value-based care from the traditional … service,” said Elliot.

John Elliot is the Vice President of Sales at Carevive. He has been with the company for almost four years and held a previous senior position at Cerner Corporation. Elliot is a graduate of Southern Methodist University and Washington University in St. Louis - Olin Business School.

Reesa Sherin is Carevive’s Clinical Strategist and is a MSN and RN. She has been with the company for six years and is a graduate of Temple University and Thomas Jefferson University.

April Boyd is the Clinical Product Manager at Carevive and has been in that role for three years now. Prior to that she worked at the MD Anderson Cancer Center.

Information plays a crucial role for many oncology professionals out there – treatment care planning, clinical trial screening, and more. However, implementing nursing informatics comes with a fair set of changes, especially when it comes to driving adoption. Combined data is a powerful tool for medical professionals to act swiftly to different measures, but in the grand scheme of things, is cost-effective and enhances patient outcomes.

On this episode of Oncology and Technology, host Tyler Kern talks to VP of Client Success for CAREVIVE, Dr. Nadia Still. Dr. Still offers her insights into what client success looks like at Carevive, and the basis for Carevive as a platform that moves theoretical learnings out of research and into everyday medical practices.

This episode features:

•Carevive as a platform that drives medical implementation science from theoretical learnings to best practices.

•Dr. Still explains her role as the VP of Client Success for Carevive and what made her team the right fit for the company.

•Building relationships with clients, understanding project objectives, and defining KPI’s

“The most important thing is to not only understand the goals, but how we'll measure our success and our progress towards those goals. That really is truly a key indicator of if we're on target or if we need to make adjustments,” Dr. Still said.

Dr. Still is a Doctor of Nursing Practices by trade and manages accounts for senior-level clients and partners within the medical industry. She earned her BSN from Widener University and MSN from Rutgers University. Dr. Still earned her DNP from Thomas Jefferson University.

Quality cancer care is important to the well-being of cancer patients, and the government is working to increase the efficiency of care. In a recent Carevive podcast episode, host Michelle Dawn Mooney chatted with Carevive’s Founder and Vice Chairman, Madelyn Herzfeld, about the Enhancing Oncology Model, or EOM.

Through the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Service (CMS) EOM, which is a replacement program for the phased-out OCM, or the Oncology Care Model, health providers have completed major improvements in cancer care in a cost-efficient way. Herzfeld, who is an oncology nurse, co-founded Carevive to revamp cancer care, and help cancer care providers meet their patient care goals.

“We wanted to support clinicians and patients with tools that all aimed to improve quality — so improve the patient experience and get better quality and better clinical and financial outcomes,” said Herzfeld.

With the end of OCM for EOM, Mooney and Herzfeld discussed the transition, and where organizations and providers are with the program’s five-year timeline that will begin effective July 1, 2023. Herzfeld said CMS defined “specific care transformation activities result in better clinical outcomes for patients.”

She added that the agency has generously funded a lot of practices that have participated in the program and made complete transformations to meet their guidelines. That often included patient care plans, survivorship care plans, and general quality care. Herzfeld also said the adjustments many practices incorporated have been a major encouragement in maintaining those changes and rejoining CMS’s efforts.

“So, for all of these practices that went through the test of time … they came back to CMS and were excited about all the changes that they had made based on this program and looking for what's next with everything that we’ve done. That’s why CMS came out with this enhancing oncology model,” said Herzfeld.

Carevive is a major supporter of practices in deciding on EOM, and the entirety of the process. The new model introduces electronic patient-reported outcomes and patient visit monitoring, as well as health-related social needs, stated Herzfeld. However, one challenge of the program is the performance-based payment model, which means good performance is awarded and performance that doesn't meet the mark translates into paying fees back.

This could cost practices in the long run. Herzfeld says Carevive is attentive to that because money can create more problems for a practice trying to meet these targets. “I want to be sensitive of course to the oncology care team, administrators — all the cancer programs out there. They want to do the best job possible. Like all of us everything comes down to dollars and cents,” said Herzfeld.

Of course, every practice might not feel that EOM is doable for them, and Herzfeld said that can come down to whether a practice decides to go with EOM or not. However, there are still other options. Herzfeld highly recommended that practices do prior data analysis research to help in their decision-making. EOM is likely not the ideal program for every practice, but in performing preliminary tasks, it can be a huge factor in the best outcome.

“It just means there are other avenues to put these quality metrics into place, so I think just making educated decisions and having data to do that is really, really critical,” stated Herzfeld.

Quality cancer care is important to the well-being of cancer patients, and the government is working to increase the efficiency of care. In a recent Carevive podcast episode, host Michelle Dawn Mooney chatted with Carevive’s Founder and Vice Chairman, Madelyn Herzfeld, about the Enhancing Oncology Model, or EOM.

Through the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Service (CMS) EOM, which is a replacement program for the phased-out OCM, or the Oncology Care Model, health providers have completed major improvements in cancer care in a cost-efficient way. Herzfeld, who is an oncology nurse, co-founded Carevive to revamp cancer care, and help cancer care providers meet their patient care goals.

“We wanted to support clinicians and patients with tools that all aimed to improve quality — so improve the patient experience and get better quality and better clinical and financial outcomes,” said Herzfeld.

With the end of OCM for EOM, Mooney and Herzfeld discussed the transition, and where organizations and providers are with the program’s five-year timeline that will begin effective July 1, 2023. Herzfeld said CMS defined “specific care transformation activities result in better clinical outcomes for patients.”

She added that the agency has generously funded a lot of practices that have participated in the program and made complete transformations to meet their guidelines. That often included patient care plans, survivorship care plans, and general quality care. Herzfeld also said the adjustments many practices incorporated have been a major encouragement in maintaining those changes and rejoining CMS’s efforts.

“So, for all of these practices that went through the test of time … they came back to CMS and were excited about all the changes that they had made based on this program and looking for what's next with everything that we’ve done. That’s why CMS came out with this enhancing oncology model,” said Herzfeld.

Carevive is a major supporter of practices in deciding on EOM, and the entirety of the process. The new model introduces electronic patient-reported outcomes and patient visit monitoring, as well as health-related social needs, stated Herzfeld. However, one challenge of the program is the performance-based payment model, which means good performance is awarded and performance that doesn't meet the mark translates into paying fees back.

This could cost practices in the long run. Herzfeld says Carevive is attentive to that because money can create more problems for a practice trying to meet these targets. “I want to be sensitive of course to the oncology care team, administrators — all the cancer programs out there. They want to do the best job possible. Like all of us everything comes down to dollars and cents,” said Herzfeld.

Of course, every practice might not feel that EOM is doable for them, and Herzfeld said that can come down to whether a practice decides to go with EOM or not. However, there are still other options. Herzfeld highly recommended that practices do prior data analysis research to help in their decision-making. EOM is likely not the ideal program for every practice, but in performing preliminary tasks, it can be a huge factor in the best outcome.

“It just means there are other avenues to put these quality metrics into place, so I think just making educated decisions and having data to do that is really, really critical,” stated Herzfeld.

Carevive exists to improve the lives of cancer patients. But doing that, can’t be accomplished without integrating real-time solutions into cancer centers around the nation. In Part Four of “Applying Oncology Expertise at Scale” host Tyler Kern chats with MSN & RN Reesa Sherin, a Clinical Strategist for Carevive Systems, about the importance of the oncology technology solution.

As the daughter of a cancer survivor, Sherin has a had a long and profound journey. After starting her nursing background in pediatric cancer before switching to adult oncology, Sherin knew she wanted to work in an environment that could help with symptom management, triage, and resource finding.

Sherin said her role, which she has held for the past few years, “help[s] support our new prospective clients with implementing and understanding how it would benefit them in their cancer centers.”

Sherin’s passion for oncology is evident in the nature of her career and she works to remind everyone that some patients can “get lost in the shuffle.” Sherin said, “These patients need the chronic care that they may not get if they’re not ‘elderly’.”

Many patients need support throughout their cancer journey and often, team members are stretched thin and act in a “reactive state” to address patient needs. Sherin is working to change this. She said, “So, I understand both the patient care aspects along with the balance that needs to be done with the bottom line of the center resources…”

Communication and education play a vital role in addressing the knowledge gap and transforming care. Carevive’s patient-reported outcomes act as a window into patient thoughts and ideas. Sherin explained, “[We]...let people know that this is something that’s out there, that we can support you and your patients and understanding what's going on in between scheduled visits so that you can proactively engage with patients as opposed to that kind of reactive state…”

Carevive exists to improve the lives of cancer patients. But doing that, can’t be accomplished without integrating real-time solutions into cancer centers around the nation. In Part Four of “Applying Oncology Expertise at Scale” host Tyler Kern chats with MSN & RN Reesa Sherin, a Clinical Strategist for Carevive Systems, about the importance of the oncology technology solution.

As the daughter of a cancer survivor, Sherin has a had a long and profound journey. After starting her nursing background in pediatric cancer before switching to adult oncology, Sherin knew she wanted to work in an environment that could help with symptom management, triage, and resource finding.

Sherin said her role, which she has held for the past few years, “help[s] support our new prospective clients with implementing and understanding how it would benefit them in their cancer centers.”

Sherin’s passion for oncology is evident in the nature of her career and she works to remind everyone that some patients can “get lost in the shuffle.” Sherin said, “These patients need the chronic care that they may not get if they’re not ‘elderly’.”

Many patients need support throughout their cancer journey and often, team members are stretched thin and act in a “reactive state” to address patient needs. Sherin is working to change this. She said, “So, I understand both the patient care aspects along with the balance that needs to be done with the bottom line of the center resources…”

Communication and education play a vital role in addressing the knowledge gap and transforming care. Carevive’s patient-reported outcomes act as a window into patient thoughts and ideas. Sherin explained, “[We]...let people know that this is something that’s out there, that we can support you and your patients and understanding what's going on in between scheduled visits so that you can proactively engage with patients as opposed to that kind of reactive state…”

April Boyd, Sr. Clinical Content Developer at Carevive, is a nurse with many years of oncology experience. Boyd understands what it takes to achieve better patient outcomes. She worked as an outpatient oncology nurse and research nurse for gastrointestinal cancers at MD Anderson in Houston. She spoke with Tyler Kern about her experiences and what led her to Carevive.

Boyd joined Carevive in 2019 in content development to help create the company’s remote symptom monitoring and management practice. She didn’t intend to focus on oncology, but the fantastic people she encountered in the field and oncology practitioners’ approach toward patient care and treatment resonated with her.

Boyd’s role at Carevive may differ from her nursing days, but it is no less rewarding. “It’s super interesting to me,” Boyd said. “It always gets me excited to take the things we have that we’re doing well and figure out how to do them even better.” Boyd acknowledged gaps in care where people are not getting the holistic care or equity of care they need.

This motivates and informs her work at Carevive, which helps the company’s “features resonate and be effective and valuable” for clinicians and patients alike. “It just gets me excited to be able to dig in and figure out which levers we can pull to get that right,” Boyd said.

Boyd’s previous experience working in oncology is paying off in her role with Carevive. “I understand how it is to be working with those patients, and talking to patients, and coming up against those care gaps,” Boyd said. “So, the conversation is very easy between me and the customers, or the patients who might be advising us, because I have that clinical experience.”

April Boyd, Sr. Clinical Content Developer at Carevive, is a nurse with many years of oncology experience. Boyd understands what it takes to achieve better patient outcomes. She worked as an outpatient oncology nurse and research nurse for gastrointestinal cancers at MD Anderson in Houston. She spoke with Tyler Kern about her experiences and what led her to Carevive.

Boyd joined Carevive in 2019 in content development to help create the company’s remote symptom monitoring and management practice. She didn’t intend to focus on oncology, but the fantastic people she encountered in the field and oncology practitioners’ approach toward patient care and treatment resonated with her.

Boyd’s role at Carevive may differ from her nursing days, but it is no less rewarding. “It’s super interesting to me,” Boyd said. “It always gets me excited to take the things we have that we’re doing well and figure out how to do them even better.” Boyd acknowledged gaps in care where people are not getting the holistic care or equity of care they need.

This motivates and informs her work at Carevive, which helps the company’s “features resonate and be effective and valuable” for clinicians and patients alike. “It just gets me excited to be able to dig in and figure out which levers we can pull to get that right,” Boyd said.

Boyd’s previous experience working in oncology is paying off in her role with Carevive. “I understand how it is to be working with those patients, and talking to patients, and coming up against those care gaps,” Boyd said. “So, the conversation is very easy between me and the customers, or the patients who might be advising us, because I have that clinical experience.”

As a nurse turned content developer, Sharon Cavone has spent the majority of her career in and around oncology. Now with Carevive, Cavone reflects on the important work the company is continuing to put forth into the oncological sector of healthcare.

Oncology is different from most other areas of medicine, as it provides insight into the patient, care, and life. “One of the things that is so incredible about oncology is that we connect with our patients. We develop relationships with our patients. Our patients look at us as their umbilical cord…we walk them over hot coals, is how I talk about…helping someone get through treatment and…we always want our patients to feel well,” Cavone said.

Ultimately, Carevive’s goal is to help patients continue to live life on the best terms they can. “…on the whole they’re going to be better than what they could have been,” Cavone added.

Beyond the relational aspect of oncology, Carevive helps set up and provide insight into each patient’s individual experience. Using the Carevive platform with system management questions, clinicians can better prioritize and manage patient care. The assessment questions provided by Carevive are incredibly comprehensive, giving a great picture of patient reported outcomes and helping clinicians streamline the process of navigating the patient experience.

Cavone said, “I feel like I understand what our clients are looking for…so I understand the kind of pitfalls that our clients have…we can use technology to do it better, we can use technology to mitigate things, to anticipate first and then mitigate and then solve. And that’s what it’s all about.”