Managed Care - November 2008 - (Page 25)

Will Biomarkers Bring Smarter Care? Expanded blood testing can reveal much about individuals’ health risks, but how should health plans decide on coverage? toms,” he explains. “We’ve been able to shed light for many people on what’s coming their way.” Boosters of blood testing beyond the standard blood workup believe biomarkers may help bring the “personalized medicine” one hears so much VANCE VASU/GETTYIMAGES By Steven R. Peskin, MD, MBA ardiologist George Rodgers, MD, still remembers the fiftyish woman he examined years ago after she reported chest discomfort. “As I was leaning in to listen to her heart, I encountered a peach-sized tumor in her breast,” he recalls. “When I asked about it, she told me she’d first noticed the growth when it was pea-sized. ‘Why didn’t you do anything about it?’ I said, and she replied: ‘Because I was afraid it was cancer.’” That fearful woman, who died of breast cancer six months later, was a dramatic case of not putting health care information to effective use. Today Rodgers is president and CMO of Biophysical Corp., a four-year-old Austin, Texas-based company that offers clients an advanced array of information about their health based on biomarkers — signs far subtler than that peach-sized growth that can nevertheless provide warnings of incipient illness. “Broadly speaking, even blood pressure can be thought of as a biomarker, because it’s an objective, measurable index that can indicate potential disease,” says Rodgers. Biophysical Corp. concentrates on serum biomarkers in the blood. “Blood often shows signs of disease years before a person becomes aware of symp- C Steven R. Peskin, MD, MBA, FACP, is executive vice president and chief medical officer for all divisions of MediMedia, USA, the company that publishes this magazine. He is also assistant clinical professor of medicine at the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey. NOVEMBER 2008 / MANAGED CARE 25

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Managed Care - November 2008

Managed Care - November 2008 Editor’s Memo Contents News and Commentary Legislation & Regulation Letters Medication Management Compensation Monitor Do It Yourself for Less Biomarkers Promise, but Do They Deliver? Oncologists Complain About Drug Payment Consider Blood Pressure Self-Monitoring Q&A: Keep Industry in the Game Formulary Files Plan Watch Tomorrow’s Medicine Outlook Respiratory Syncytial Virus Managed Care Considerations Contents Continuing Education Objectives RSV Disease in the Pediatric Population In the Trenches RSV Infection in the Adult Population Health Plan Medical Director Health Plan Pharmacy Director RSV Issues and Solutions Assessment/Evaluation/Certificate Request Post-Test

Managed Care - November 2008

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