Last month, leading health plan executives\u00a0joined us for an in-depth discussion on managing the cost, quality and value of genetic testing.\u00a0The\u00a0exchange\u00a0offered an inside look at their efforts to manage genetic testing and included practical advice for health plan leaders seeking to better manage this space.<\/p>\n
Highlights from the discussion\u00a0include:<\/strong><\/p>\n Costs are rising fast.<\/strong> Knowledge gaps exist.<\/strong> Health plans\u00a0need to understand\u00a0what tests they’re\u00a0paying for now.<\/strong> Quality data can be scarce.<\/strong> Cost-effectiveness is the goal.<\/strong> The panelists also discussed:<\/strong><\/p>\n Establishing laboratory partnerships and narrow networks<\/p>\n<\/li>\n The value of genetic counselors<\/p>\n<\/li>\n Working with the limitations of billing codes<\/p>\n<\/li>\n Advice for health plan leaders just getting started<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n We hope you find the insights from\u00a0this session\u00a0valuable, and we look forward to\u00a0more events like it in the coming\u00a0year.<\/p>\n *NextGxDx became Concert Genetics in March 2017.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Last month, leading health plan executives\u00a0joined us for an in-depth discussion on managing the cost, quality and value of genetic testing.\u00a0The\u00a0exchange\u00a0offered an inside look at […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-720","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-health-plans"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n
\n\u201cOur spend in this category has hit triple-digit increases in a couple of years. The area is exploding.\u201d (6:35)<\/p>\n
\n\u201cWe also had an internal knowledge gap…a lot of our staff weren\u2019t well equipped to understand these tests.\u201d (8:50)<\/p>\n
\n\u201cJob #1 was trying to understand what our spend was for. For that, we went outside and into a relationship with NextGxDx (*now Concert Genetics) to take a look at our claims data.\u201d (10:19)<\/p>\n
\n\u201cOf the many thousands that are out there, maybe 400-500 have any level of evidence or evidence-based guidelines or clinical utility. It\u2019s a small fraction.\u201d (23:00)<\/p>\n
\n\u201cOne of our challenges is…not only what is the right test but, once we have that category finished, to say what\u2019s the most cost-effective or economical test in that area that still delivers good quality.\u201d (35:00)<\/p>\n\n