Chancellor Donald, MD
Attendees of the 65th American Society of Hematology (ASH) Annual Meeting and Exposition can look forward to many special interest sessions that are available in person and virtually. These smaller sessions will provide an opportunity to participate in ASH’s communities, diving into specific topics of interest that ASH committee members have identified as the most important of 2023. Participants can engage with colleagues and mentors on newly emerging and rapidly evolving concepts, issues, and research in hematologic disorders to continue adapting clinical practice and spark collaborations in benchtop and clinical research.
One of these sessions, “How Can We Provide Sustainable Care to Hematology Patients?” is chaired by Chancellor Donald, MD, assistant professor of medicine, hematology, and oncology at the Tulane University School of Medicine and the medical director of cancer management at the University Medical Center New Orleans in Louisiana. This session will allow panel members and attendees to discuss how to provide sustainable care in a hematology clinical practice.
“Sustainable care is going beyond the nuts and bolts of diagnosis and treatment of a patient to taking care of their overall well-being,” Dr. Donald said. “Sustainability can include quality improvement tools and pathways and guidelines to get to sustainable care.”
Sustainable care will be addressed in three topics at the session:
- “Financial Toxicity: How to Determine Value of Hematology Treatments for Patients,” presented by Aaron Goodman, MD, of the University of California San Diego Moores Cancer Center in La Jolla, California.
- “Can Guidelines and Pathways Help Determine Value of Treatments for Hematology Patients?” presented by David Andorsky, MD, of the Rocky Mountain Cancer Centers in Boulder, Colorado.
- “How Can Artificial Intelligence Improve the Practice of Hematology in Providing Sustainable Care?” presented by Shannon Walker, MD, and Benjamin F. Tilman, MD, both of Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tennessee.
“Part of the conversation on the financial toxicity topic is likely to be about the concerning rise in the cost of care, across all of medicine, and the tough decisions that many patients make to receive the care and treatments they need. When we talk about enhancing the quality of care and the well-being of the hematology patient, we need to discuss how these fit into the existing care models so we don’t add significant financial strains for the patients,” said Dr. Donald.
According to Dr. Donald, pathways and guidelines have been traditional mechanisms for caring for a host of disorders and diseases. “The hurdle in hematology is the breadth of different disorders — malignancies and classical hematology disorders, including rare and common ones — and how to corral guidelines for such different disorders.”
Dr. Donald is looking forward to discussing the role of artificial intelligence (AI) in sustainable care. “The idea is to begin this conversation now, to help shape what AI can and will do in hematology, rather than describe and try to improve an already implemented AI system,” he said. “We want to learn what is being attempted and the safe ways to introduce AI into the care of patients as it relates to sustainable care.”
The session is ideal for anyone interested in improving patients’ quality of life. “This session is specifically geared toward those hematologists who care for and treat patients, including those with academic appointments who care for patients part of their time,” Dr. Donald said.
“I hope that session attendees engage in thoughtful discussion and will go back to their institutions and practices as stewards and inform the larger health care system about what positive changes in sustainable care are being explored now and in the future,” said Dr. Donald.
ASH Clinicians in Practice (ACIP) Lunch – How Can We Provide Sustainable Care to Hematology Patients?
Sunday, December 10, 11:15 a.m. - 12:30 p.m., Marriott Marquis San Diego Marina, South Tower, Marina Ballroom DE
