We are excited about the recent launch of Eviti Connect® for autoimmune diseases, aimed at helping payers and providers realize the quickest path to approving cost-effective, quality care for patients. Ten years ago, the Eviti team set out to solve one of the biggest problems in healthcare, the high cost of cancer care and the lack of care consistency. The launch of Eviti for autoimmune diseases addresses another challenging healthcare problem that impacts millions of people and contributes to billions of dollars in care costs.
Our Chief Medical Officer of Eviti, shares some insight about the autoimmune space and why this is the next critical area of focus for his team.
NH: We’re seeing more and more discussion around autoimmune diseases in recent years. Why do you think that is?
Eviti CMO: I believe there’s more talk about autoimmune disease because we actually have better science around it, leading to better diagnosis and treatment. The true prevalence of autoimmune disease hasn’t changed, but our ability to recognize and intervene has.
NH: What do you see as the major challenges for providers associated with the rise of autoimmune diseases?
Eviti CMO: The first challenge is making the right diagnosis and then getting the patient to the right provider. Autoimmune disease can affect any organ or system in the body, while the resulting signs and symptoms can be seen with many other illnesses as well.
The next challenge is in keeping up with the data. Our increasing understanding of inflammation, autoimmunity and subsequent opportunities for therapy also grows the knowledge base for everyone involved in the care of patients with autoimmune disease. This is not a new problem; we see this in oncology too. That’s why we introduced a system to help providers and payers manage both the care complexities and the evolving therapeutics to treat it.
NH: How can providers get a better handle on managing the cost of drugs used to treat autoimmune diseases?
Eviti CMO: The high cost of these drugs can be mind-blowing. It’s not just out-of-pocket costs to the patient or insurance reimbursements to the provider, but also how our society deals with it. For example, you have insurance, co-pays, and tiered approaches to payments. If I’m a provider, I am seeing patients from many different insurers. How do I keep track of what will be approved across these different benefit plans? It’s really challenging. If we want to limit the undue burden on our patients, we have to make sure we are giving them the best treatment at the best cost.
NH: For ten years, Eviti has helped payers, and providers navigate the complexities of cancer care. Why are you excited about this next evolution of Eviti Connect?
Eviti CMO: Eviti has helped providers find evidence-based care for more than 345,000 cancer patients, while saving our clients hundreds of millions of dollars. Now, we want to have the same impact on another devastating and complex healthcare problem—autoimmune diseases. Most of us are either directly or indirectly impacted by autoimmune diseases. It’s important to acknowledge the growing presence of autoimmune diseases, stay informed about the best treatment options, and find ways for payers, providers, and patients to work better together.
NH: What have you learned as you have started to talk about this offering with payers?
Eviti CMO: Payers don’t always have in-house expertise to manage these complex illnesses on their own—same as in cancer care. Just as most can’t have experts at hand for every cancer, the same is true for autoimmune disease. Our ten-year track record in oncology established a baseline to extend into other complex illnesses. Payers know the rigor and the diligence that we put into our processes and data for oncology. They know we are quality-focused, not just dollar-focused. They have confidence in the feedback that we give them. They like what we’re doing in oncology, so moving into another disease area is a natural evolution.
NH: How will you know when this offering has been successful?
Eviti CMO: Our goal for this product, like it has been for oncology, is that payers find that they’re managing this class of illnesses more effectively and efficiently—and that the speed of care for their members is better. We want providers to say that they are getting the treatments they want for their patients backed by the latest evidence, and it’s happening faster and in a more turn-key way for them than has happened in the past. We want providers to find that when things aren’t clear-cut, we’re giving them the benefit of the doubt, and we’re taking into account all the medicine and not simply some black and white criteria. We also hope that they’re more confident in the clinical validity that we’re giving them in implementing the best care plan available in the most efficient way possible.
This next chapter of Eviti is built on a new, flexible, extensible platform and enables NantHealth to expand into other disease areas beyond oncology and autoimmune in the future.
Check out our complimentary on-demand webinar: “Payer Readiness for Autoimmune Biosimilars“.