Automatic Substitution Pays Off for Compass Oncology West
Implementing automatic substitution, or therapeutic interchange, has increased access to biosimilars for patients at Compass Oncology West in northern Oregon, according to Lucy Langer, MD, practice president and chair of the National Policy Executive Committee for The US Oncology Network.
“In my practice, we have taken a therapeutic interchange approach,” she said in a webinar sponsored by the Pacific Business Group on Health and the Integrated Benefits Institute. “So, instead of leaving it in the physicians’ hands, we have stated that where the biosimilar exists with the specific value-based contracts that we’re trying to achieve, we give our pharmacists the green light to perform that interchange behind the scenes. There are exceptions, of course.”
