Pursuant to the charter of the National Cancer Treatment Alliance (NCTA), and in accordance with applicable state laws, we present the inaugural NCTA Annual Benefit Report. This report seeks to capture our promotion of the public benefit specified in the NCTA charter and the interests of those affected by our activities.

Objectives of the NCTA

Navigating cancer treatment has become significantly more complex for employers and their employees who must understand issues, such as the value of diagnostic and genetic testing, the role of new immunotherapies, and the equivalency of biosimilars. This is set against a confusing backdrop of state and federal public policy and shifting regulatory landscape.

Responding to these challenges, the Community Oncology Alliance (COA) created the National Cancer Treatment Alliance. The purpose of NCTA is to develop a presence and relationship with employers and the business groups/coalitions representing them. NCTA offers the expertise of its oncology network in providing information, resources, and educational materials for both employers and employees. NCTA helps employers and employees meet their needs relating to cancer care.

NCTA is a coalition of leading, independent community oncology practices across the country that are working to increase quality while reducing the cost of cancer care. Working together with self-insured employers, progressive payers, and transparent pharmacy benefit managers, NCTA offers its partners access to a national clinically integrated oncology network, as well as expert oncology information, resources, and education for both employers and employees. A benefit corporation (B-Corp) subsidiary of the non-profit COA, NCTA is structured as a separate clinically integrated network (CIN) that seeks to provide solutions to employers and health plan sponsors who are increasingly frustrated by an expensive, complex, and unfriendly cancer care system. Since its founding, NCTA has established strong relationships with leading national and regional business coalitions.

Progress Towards Meeting Our Mission and Business Plan

The NCTA Business Plan, which was approved by the COA Board in September 2019, established the standards for the company to promote the public benefits and interests. The plan is to develop a CIN controlled and owned by NCTA/COA. The purpose is to contract directly with employers, directly or through employer-facing organizations. NCTA will have a CEO reporting to a Board of Directors. NCTA will develop relationships with employers, business groups on health, and other organizations through educational programs and projects. COA will provide administrative, operations, and IT support to NCTA on a services fee basis.

Building Relationships and Educating Key Audiences

NCTA has spent the past two years building relationships with, and learning from, the nation’s top business groups on health and coalitions (over 70) and many of the smaller organizations to better understand their issues, struggles, and concerns regarding cancer care. NCTA has had the opportunity to present at many of the Business Groups on Health conferences educating on Value-Based Insurance Design, Cancer Screening, and Precision Medicine.

Over the past year, NCTA has undertaken a robust educational initiative on biomarker testing in precision medicine and specifically oncology. In our conversations with stakeholders, the NCTA team consistently received feedback about a lack of education and understanding by employers and employees on the use and value of biomarker testing. The lack of knowledge around biomarker testing can lead to policies and benefit structures that impede treatment options and outcomes for employees and covered lives facing cancer. NCTA organized, developed, and distributed a comprehensive suite of unbranded resources to business groups and employers on biomarker testing. Our goal was and is for employers to better understand the value of biomarker testing and options for plan benefit design around it.

NCTA has demonstrated success in meeting its objectives, in accordance with standards developed and approved by the Board, by building relationships with target business groups and the employers/employees they serve.

The assessment of NCTA’s success in meeting these objectives is substantiated by the number of educational opportunities achieved:

• Midwest Business Group on Health Conference panel: The Power of Personalization: From Population Health to Pharmacogenomic Medicine – Fred Schnell, MD,
  09/04/20
• Community Oncology Alliance (COA) Board Meeting: Education Panel-Genomic Profiling in Cancer – Fred Schnell, MD, 09/22/20
• Community Oncology Alliance Payer Exchange Summit – The Employer Perspective on the State of Cancer Care and Payment Reform – Fred Schnell, MD, Moderator, 10/27/20
• National Alliance of Healthcare Purchaser Coalitions – Personalizing the Patient’s Journey, Fred Schnell, MD, Panelist, 11/10/20
• COA Biomarker Testing Survey – 11/10/20
• Precision Oncology News/GenomeWeb: Dr. Fred Schnell interviewed for article on challenges that many oncologists face regarding payer/coverage reimbursement for biomarker testing; shared NCTA – A Path to Better Cancer Care; is interested in any educational materials NCTA creates; interview with Caroline Hopkins, 11/20/20
• Journal of Clinical Pathways covered Biomarker Testing panel at 2021 Community Oncology Conference, 04/08/21 • Economic Alliance for Michigan – Dr. Fred Schnell invited to speak on panel, 04/14/21
• Pittsburgh Business Group on Health – Fred Schnell, MD, 09/09/21
• Kansas Business Group on Health – Fred Schnell, MD, 10/12/21
• COA Payer Exchange Summit – Robert Baird, RN, MSA, 10/25/21
• National Alliance of Healthcare Purchasers Coalition – Fred Schnell, MD, 11/09/21
• Houston Business Coalition on Health – Fred Schnell, MD, 12/09/21
• Biomarker Testing Toolkit shared with National Alliance of Healthcare Purchaser Coalitions – Robert Baird, RN, MSA, 12/13/21
• Biomarker Testing Toolkit shared with Midwest Business Group on Health – Robert Baird, RN, MSA, 02/15/22
• Biomarker Testing Toolkit shared with Dallas/Fort-Worth Business Group on Health -Robert Baird, RN, MSA, 02/25/22
• National Webinar Presentation “What Employers Need to Know About Biomarker Testing” – Robert Baird, RN, MSA, and Fred Schnell, MD, 02/24/22
• Community Oncology Pharmacy Association (COPA) and COA Administrators’ Network (CAN) Meeting – NCTA Presented “What Employers Need to Know About Biomarker Testing” – Robert Baird, RN, MSA, and Fred Schnell, MD, 02/24/22
• American Journal of Managed Care (AJMC) – Article reviewing our Biomarker Testing Webinar – Robert Baird, RN, MSA, and Fred Schnell, MD, 02/26/22 • Cancer Business Summit – Steve D’Amato, BScPharm, 03/02/22
• Kansas City Business Group on Health sharing in their monthly newsletter – Robert Baird, RN, MSA, and Fred Schnell , MD, 03/04/22
• Biomarker Testing Toolkit shared with COA and NCTA Alliance Board – Carrie Pernell, 03/11/22
• National Alliance of Healthcare Purchasers Coalition used NCTA Webinar, 4/13/22
• Outcome – Driven Innovation in Community Oncology Practice: Michael Diaz, MD; AJMC – The Institute for Value-Based Medicine in partnership with Florida Cancer Specialists – “Innovations in Molecular Testing/Targeted Oncology Advancements Within the Community Setting , Michael Diaz, MD, 05/18/22

Robert Baird, RN, MSA
President
National Cancer Treatment Alliance 5/19/21