September 6, 2022
MOASC has a new address! Please make changes to your directory.
Mail and Letters
MOASC
PO Box 400606
Hesperia, CA 92340    
Packages and Magazines
MOASC
17240 Olive Street, Box 400606
Hesperia, CA 92340
  • Southern California Permanente Medical Group seeks Urologic Oncologists in Riverside and San Bernardino.
  • Subscribe to MOASC’s Job Board for more opportunities!
MOASC Job Board
  • Medical Billing, p.r.n., Inc. is a personalized medical billing company. 31 years of medical billing experience and 27 years of hematology and medical oncology billing experience in Orange County. Has billed for past MOASC President (now retired). Please call Nancy Wermers, Medical Billing, p.r.n., Inc. at (949) 874-2196.
Programs
  • MOASC invites you to please join us for a virtual Jazz Speaker Program with Dr. David Berz, 09/15/22, 5:30pmPST on Small Cell Lung Cancer: A Review of Epidemiology, A Treatment Landscape and Long-term Management.
California
  • In 2020, Breast Cancer Prevention Partners (BCPP) released Paths to Prevention. This was a first-ever, comprehensive Breast Cancer Primary Prevention Plan for California that created a statewide policy agenda to reduce breast cancer risk. BCPP is now looking for experts to assist with launching a new project, Charting Paths to Prevention, which will gather diverse perspectives from across the state to identify priorities from the 2020 Plan. Participation will involve sorting and rating policy and community actions that have the potential to reduce breast cancer risk. This online process will take place in the fall and take about 60 to 90 minutes of your time. Participants will be offered a small honorarium. If you are interested in participating or learning more, please contact Nyisha Green-Washington (nyisha@bcpp.org), the BCPP organizer working on this project, or if you have questions or suggestions for others that might be interested in participating. BCPP is a national organization working to eliminate toxic chemicals and other environmental exposures that are linked to breast cancer.
Medicare
  • CMS announced, last week, of the availability of new Research Identifiable Files (RIFs) for six CMS Innovation Center models. CMS has released participation data for the Oncology Care Model (OCM) ; Global and Professional Direct Contracting (GPDC) Model ; Bundled Payments for Care Improvement Advanced (BPCI Advanced) Model, and others. Each model in the release will have a set of three files (one each for model participants, participating providers, and attributed beneficiaries), that includes data since the inception of the model and was captured as of a point in time. This file set will be updated on a quarterly basis, reflecting changes captured for the prior quarter. The files will be “full replacement files” and will contain data from the launch of each model to the current quarter, and each model’s data will change from quarter to quarter as participation data is updated. The group of models for which files are available will expand over time to include additional models. Note that the GPDC model is transitioning to the ACO REACH model as of January 1, 2023. The model ID number (identifying variable in these files) for ACO REACH will remain the same as the model ID for GPDC (ID 63). However, please note that ACO REACH data will not appear in these research files until the 2023 Q2 posting in April, 2023. The January 2023 files will still contain the GPDC participation data as of December 2022. 
  • The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services published ICD-10 CM updates effective October 1st , 2022 through September 30th, 2023. Several new codes and changes were made in Chapter 2 (Neoplasms) and Chapter 3 (Diseases of the blood and blood-forming organs and certain disorders involving the immune mechanism) as well as in Chapter 21 (Factors influencing health status and contact with health services)
  • Community Oncology Alliance submits comments to 2023 Medicare Physician Fee Schedule warning reimbursement cuts will consolidate cancer care and increase costs.
National
  • The reconciliation package recently passed into law, known as the Inflation reduction Act of 2022 (IRA), allows Medicare to negotiate prices for the costliest Part B & D drugs, penalizes drug manufacturers for price increases and redesigns the Part D Program, thereby placing physicians in the untenable position as a pawn between the government and drug manufacturers. Unfortunately, an amendment to the bill from Sen. John Barrasso (R-WY), to remove providers from the middle failed. COA plans on using the delay in implementation of the IRA, in 2026, to work on technical amendments and press for a fix to the IRA. It is also expected there will be several legal challenges from manufacturers to the law which could further blunt its impact or stop its implementation altogether.
  • A Mayo Clinic survey of 20,000 physicians found that about 20% plan to leave the field and a third intend to start working fewer hours.
Industry
MOASC is pleased to acknowledge and thank the following company for their generous support of your association. Please welcome and thank them when they call, e-mail and come to your office.
  • Biotheranostics, Inc. (Diamond) represents the oncology portfolio within the Diagnostic Solutions division of Hologic, Inc. The CLIA certified, CAP accredited laboratory provides two proprietary, highly differentiated molecular diagnostic tests for breast and metastatic cancers, Breast Cancer Index (BCI) and CancerTYPE ID, respectively.
  • Kite Pharma, a Gilead Company has updated information on axi-cel/Yescarta: ZUMA-1 was a phase 1/2 multicenter, single-arm, open-label study which evaluated the safety and efficacy of axicabtagene ciloleucel (axi-cel) in patients with relapsed/refractory large B-cell lymphoma (LBCL), primary mediastinal B-cell lymphoma (PMBCL), or transformed follicular lymphoma (TFL). At the updated 5-year analysis, the median follow-up was 63.1 months with a data cutoff at August 11, 2021. (Link here). 
  • ZUMA-7 an international, multicenter, randomized, phase 3 trial comparing axi-cel with standard care as second-line treatment in patients with early relapsed (≤ 12 months) or refractory (LBCL), with a median follow-up of 24.9 months in the primary analysis at a data cutoff date of March 18, 2021. (Link here)
  • ZUMA-5 is a multicenter, single arm, Phase 2 study to evaluate the efficacy of axicabtagene ciloleucel (axi-cel) in patients with relapsed/refractory indolent Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma (iNHL), including Follicular Lymphoma (FL, Grades 1-3a) and Marginal Zone Lymphoma (MZL, nodal or extranodal). At the long-term follow-up analysis with ≥ 2 years of follow-up, the median follow-up for patients with FL and MZL was 30.9 months and 23.8 months, respectively, at a data cutoff date of March 31, 2021. (Link here)
  • Pharmacyclics announced that the FDA approved the use of IMBRUVICA® (ibrutinib) for the treatment of pediatric patients one year and older with chronic graft versus host disease (cGVHD) after failure of one or more lines of systemic therapy. Formulations include capsules, tablets, and oral suspension.
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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.