The new proposed rules are being cheered by caregivers and are in response to complaints from patients and providers that the PA process is often burdensome, disruptive to care, delaying care, costly, and a major source of frustration and burnout for providers.

Many prior studies associated enrollment in Medicare Advantage with lower use of health care services, greater performance of recommended preventive services, and higher scores for some measures of patient experience. This and other studies over the last decade suggest that “the association between Medicare Advantage and higher quality of care is modest at best.”

An important development in patient treatment occurs when indolent lymphomas develop an aggressive histology, which necessitates a shift in therapy. Although the prevalence of transformation is generally falling, it is still a very dangerous situation with a poor prognosis when compared to patients who do not have transformation. CAR-T has helped, but overall, the prognosis for patients with transformed lymphomas is still quite poor, especially if hematopoietic stem cell transplant (HSCT) or cellular therapy methods are not accessible or are ineffective. The top priority at this time should be to enroll the patient in a clinical trial.

Especially after hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT), infections are a major factor in morbidity and mortality. Neutropenic diets have long been advised to prevent these infections despite the scant evidence. The results of a recent research evaluating this notion show no discernible difference between a nonrestrictive diet and infection rates, feeding outcomes, and the incidence of acute graft-versus-host disease.

Patients with previously untreated mantle cell lymphoma (MCL) have relied on autologous stem cell transplant (ASCT) for more than 20 years; the current standard of care entails high-dose cytarabine-containing chemoimmunotherapy, ASCT, and rituximab maintenance. A recent clinical trial’s findings, which revealed that FFS was superior to ASCT when ibrutinib medication was added, may change this.

A fully human IgG1 antibody that selectively binds to mutant CALR, INCA033989 demonstrated activity in cells from MPN patients and a mouse model of essential thrombocythemia. In the model, INCA033989 selectively decreased levels of mutant CALR-positive platelets, re-established normal megakaryopoiesis, and selectively targeted mutant CALR disease-initiating clones.