Policy Matters:  A monthly newsletter   for Duke Faculty and Staff from the
Duke-Margolis Center for Health Policy
Policy Matters:  September 2016
Announcements
Welcome to Policy Matters!
Policy Matters is a monthly newsletter for faculty, staff and anyone at Duke University interested in the Duke-Margolis Center for Health Policy. Please share this newsletter with colleagues at Duke who may be interested!

Scholars in Residence Complement Duke Expertise
The Center's first four Scholars in Residence bring expertise in health IT, insurance and patient-centered outcomes research to Duke-Margolis.  They are:
  • Mohit Kaushal, MD, MBA, Special Advisor at General Atlantic
  • Aaron McKethan, PhD, Executive Vice President, Strategy and Business Development at RxAnte, LLC
  • Edmund Pezalla, MD, MPH, Vice President and National Medical Director for Phamaceutical Policy and Strategy at Aetna
  • Michael Pignone, MD, MPH, Chair of Internal Medicine at the University of Texas Dell Medical School

Read the full story
Duke-Margolis Welcomes Research Fellows
Hillary Campbell, PharmD, JD, and Zeena Johar, PhD, have joined Duke-Margolis as research fellows for the 2016-2017 year. Both accomplished individuals, they will work with faculty and research staff to add their expertise to the Center's projects.  Read more
Events
Past Event:  Public Meeting Explores use of Minimal Residual Disease in Hematologic Trials
On September 7th, the Center convened a public meeting in Washington, DC, to explore the current state of evidence supporting the use of ‘minimal residual disease’ (MRD)—a way of measuring leukemic cells in the body—in trials of new hematologic cancer treatments, as well as identify the key next steps for moving the field forward. This event brought together representatives from academia, industry, government, and advocacy groups to discuss the evidentiary challenges surrounding MRD validation in four cancers: multiple myeloma, chronic lymphocytic leukemia, acute lymphoblastic leukemia, and acute myeloid leukemia. Participants identified several tangible next steps that the research and drug development community can take moving forward, including: 1) creating open source datasets from previous clinical trials to allow for data aggregation and comparison; 2) funding comprehensive, retrospective assessments of existing MRD samples, and 3) harmonizing the standards for MRD testing across multiple methods so as to reduce variability in the way MRD is assessed. Learn more
Recent News
National Evaluation System for health Technologies Planning Board Releases Priorities for Early Implementation 
Supported by a team from Duke-Margolis, the NEST Planning Board released key priorities for the new Coordinating Center as it works to implement a national system for medical device evaluation.  Read more
Partnership Chosen as HealthyCommunity50 Members
Duke-Margolis, Durham County Department of Public Health and Cabarrus Health Alliance selected from hundreds of entries to compete for up to $500,000 in prizes through Aetna Foundation, American Public Health Association and National Association of Counties partnership.  Read more
New Guidelines Enhance Evidence-based Health Care
In a special communication published Sept. 13 in the Journal of the American Medical Association, a panel, co-chaired by Gillian Sanders-Schmidler, has updated 20-year-old guidelines and recommendations for evaluating cost-effectiveness in health and medicine. Read more
Awards and Honors
Greg Daniel has been invited to give the keynote address, with Gabriela Lavezzeri, for the general assembly of the DRIVE-AB project, the public-private partnership funded by the Innovative Medicines Initiative and tasked with designing new economic models to stimulate antibiotic research and development based on innovation, access and sustainable use. The keynote will take place on October 17 in Oslo, Norway.

On October 29, Dr. Daniel will present to the 3D Dartmouth Device Development Symposium on "A Comprehensive Medical Evaluation System: A Vision Moving Forward" and he is an invited speaker for the Transcatheter Cardiovascular Therapeutics/Cardiovascular Research Foundation on October 31st, presenting on "National Evaluation System for Health Technology (NEST): Objectives, Accomplishments and Future Directions”. 

Krishna Udayakumar, Erin Escobar, Jonathan Gonzalez-Smith, and Zeena Johar, as part of a collaboration between Duke-Margolis and Innovations in Health Care, will be presenting two panels at the upcoming Triangle Global Health Annual Conference on Sep 30th: "Adapting Global Health Innovation to Local Health Ecosystems" and "Scaling and sustaining digital health: the ecosystem needed to encourage and sustain innovation at scale".

Zeena Johar will also be presenting at the Aspen Network of Development Entrepreneurs Annual Conference in Leesburg, VA (Sept. 26-28) on "Financial Fitness: Investing in Healthcare Small and Growing Businesses".

With the National Academy of Medicine director Victor Dzau, Mark McClellan is co-chairing a new NAM initiative, Vital Directions for Health Care.  Guided by an 18-member  steering committee, the National Academy of Medicine (NAM) has called on  more than 100 leading researchers, scientists, and policy makers from across the United States to provide expert guidance on  19 priority focus areas for U.S. health policy.

Dr. McClellan will give the keynote address to the American Journal of Managed Care's ACO Coalition in Philadelphia on October 21 and will participate in the Alliance for Health Reform's Capitol Hill briefing on October 26.
Funded Projects
Caregivers' Reactions and Experience: Imaging Dementia - Evidence for Amyloid Scanning (CARE IDEAS)
Courtney Van Houtven (General Internal Medicine) and Duke-Margolis founding faculty member Don Taylor are partnering with colleagues at Harvard University to gather preliminary information on how diagnostic imaging in dementia affects caregiver experiences. Learn more.
Policy Impact
A Call for Collaborative Action: Achieving Readiness for a Value Payment World
Governor Michael Leavitt and Duke-Margolis Director Mark McClellan co-chair the Accountable Care Learning Collective.  Read their Call for Collaborative Action:  Achieving Readiness for a Value Payment World.
Invited Briefings
Greg Daniel gave a Senate briefing and an invited presentation to the Presidential Advisory Council on Combating Antibiotic-Resistant Bacteria on New US Payment Models for Effective Antimicrobial Development and Use.
Medicare Accountable Care Organization Results For 2015: The Journey To Better Quality And Lower Costs Continues
David Muhlestein, Robert Saunders, and Mark McClellan comment on the Health Affairs Blog.
Health Affairs Blog: What will it take to succeed under MACRA?
In early June, a number of Duke-Margolis and Duke University faculty sent a commentary to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services regarding the proposed rule on MACRA implementation. Read more about the roadmap to physician payment reform in a more focused post on the Health Affairs Blog.
Medicare's Bundled Payment Proposal
Mark McClellan, Michael O. Leavitt, Tom Scully and Leslie Norwalk comment in The Hill.