Greetings,
As I write this, we have just wrapped up the January MOQC Biannual Meeting. Over the past nearly six months of my role as POEM and Oncology Stewardship Director (time truly does fly), I have had a front-row view into the MOQC community.
As a new member of the team, I have the privilege of observing the scope of work and the dynamics of the coordinating center with fresh perspective. I am struck by the breadth of ongoing initiatives designed to improve care and address resource gaps that contribute to healthcare imbalances. Examples include Comfort Cuisine, the recently completed initiative using patient-reported outcomes (PRO) data to connect patients with non-medical resources through collaboration with Michigan 2-1-1, and the Palliative Care Certificate Program in partnership with CAPC. I have also seen a strong commitment to connecting practices across the state and addressing barriers for patients with complex care needs through efforts such as the gynecologic oncology statewide tumor board and the oncology stewardship initiative in metastatic non-small cell lung cancer.
Equally important, I have observed an intentional approach to maintaining relevance to participating practices. The coordinating center is methodically evaluating all initiatives to determine where continued investment will have the greatest impact, and where pausing work creates space for new, high-value opportunities for practices and patients. As Director of the Pharmacists Optimizing Oncology Care Excellence in Michigan (POEM), I have also seen how this pharmacist group is employing best practices at their sites, most recently through discussions about how to implement dihydropyridine dehydrogenase (DPYD) testing for patients receiving therapy with fluoropyrimidines. We hope to also be able to bring the knowledge gained through implementation to non-POEM sites soon.
Transitioning from a direct patient-facing leukemia pharmacist at a single institution to a statewide quality improvement role has been both humbling and eye-opening. I have been energized by MOQC’s value-driven culture and the consistency with which these values are demonstrated in decision-making, communication, and strategic planning. I also see how the voice of POQC helps provide direction and focus for collaborative initiatives.
Looking ahead, we will continue to modernize our measures to meet the evolving needs of the collaborative. This includes updating high-emetic-risk categories to incorporate newer antibody-drug conjugates that have demonstrated clinically meaningful emesis risk as these agents are increasingly used across tumor types. I am also interested to see what insights emerge from our new non-medical needs screening measure, which may help inform future resource development and program design. In addition, our oncology stewardship initiative continues to expand, including on-demand, no-cost continuing education for clinicians aimed at addressing barriers to biomarker testing in metastatic non-small cell lung cancer.
As we prepare for our upcoming regional meetings, I am especially looking forward to connecting with practices and sharing the agenda for our in-person June biannual meeting. We remain committed to actively engaging practices and welcome ideas, feedback, and discussion about barriers MOQC may be able to help address.
Hoping spring brings sunshine and warmer days!
Lydia L. Benitez, PharmD, BCOP
Director of POEM and Oncology Stewardship