Bills would bring biomarker testing to RI patients

Heather Murphy is a nurse practitioner on the Program in Ladies’s Oncology at Ladies & Infants and president of the Rhode Island and Southeast Massachusetts Chapter of the Oncology Nursing Society.

Think about a beloved one, good friend, or somebody who has most cancers.  It’s this individual I would like you to bear in mind as you learn on. Think about this individual is assembly with their oncologist and comes to know that there’s specialised testing that may assist determine what therapies may greatest goal the most cancers.  

The oncologist plans to depend on one thing referred to as biomarker testing (often known as tumor testing or molecular profiling) to discover a remedy so exact that it targets the precise biology in hopes to maintain that most cancers from destroying their very important organ capabilities. In doing so, it might assist the affected person preserve their absolute best high quality of life whereas in remedy.  This testing studies to the oncologist what the biology and genetic make-up of the most cancers is, and it might additionally present details about which medication would greatest goal the most cancers in query.

Sounds promising, doesn’t it?

Now think about that this oncologist now has to inform the one you love that though this specialised testing is out there, his or her insurance coverage firm is not going to pay for it. Sadly, that is the truth for a lot of most cancers sufferers throughout Rhode Island.

By serving to join “the correct remedy, to the correct affected person, on the proper time,” biomarker testing has performed a crucial function in bettering most cancers outcomes and has turn out to be an important instrument for oncologists to determine one of the best course of remedy for any particular person. It’s telling that 37 of the 62 oncology medication launched prior to now 5 years require or advocate biomarker testing prior to make use of.

However to find out if a affected person will profit from sure focused therapies, medical doctors should check for particular biomarkers (equivalent to gene mutations) present in blood, tissues or different biospecimens.

Whereas some might argue that these checks aren’t low cost, they might help keep away from pointless and costly remedy. The upfront value of biomarker testing might enable sufferers to obtain the best remedy for his or her most cancers straight away, bypassing costly ineffective therapies that may in any other case be tried first — whereas bettering a affected person’s high quality of life alongside the best way.

However proper now, many Rhode Islanders are unable to acquire biomarker testing as a result of it’s not coated by their insurance policy.

I’m working to vary that.

Oncologists must be treating their sufferers with the absolute best care, not giving in to the calls for of insurers. Happily, Rhode Island lawmakers are debating a invoice that will develop insurance coverage protection of scientifically confirmed and medically acceptable biomarker testing. As a nurse who has seen the lifesaving advantages of this testing, I implore them to go this laws.

In my function as an oncology nurse, I’ve seen the devastation most cancers can do to not solely a affected person, however their household and family members. Happily, I’ve additionally seen what could be achieved because of advances in most cancers analysis, remedy and care. It is time to take away the monetary barrier to a doubtlessly lifesaving check, giving many Rhode Islanders an extended, and higher high quality, life.

I urge lawmakers to help payments S2201 and H7587 and improve entry to biomarker testing. Most cancers sufferers and people affected by different severe illness deserve a minimum of this a lot.