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As you may notice, we are now recognising the indigenous seasons from the South-West of Australia (where our support office is located) in the naming of our newsletters - it is currently Djilba, or the Growing Season, (season of conception). (http://www.bom.gov.au/iwk/nyoongar/djilba.shtml).
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The last 18 months have been quite challenging in so many ways. We want to start by acknowledging and thanking all our referring specialists for trusting us to take care of your patients, and our team for working so hard to keep your patients out of hospital, and safe at home.
The View Health - chemo@home service has grown significantly over this time, with over 90 staff now treating patients across WA, SA, Vic, NSW, Qld and the ACT. We offer over 205 different regimens for patients with Cancer, Crohn’s, Multiple Sclerosis, Rheumatoid Arthritis and for Iron Deficiency Anaemia. We offer 7 different pharmaceutical sponsored programs across 4 disease state areas.
Trusted by over 1400 referring Specialists, we are now administering over 17,000 treatments a year.
We hope you enjoy catching up on the latest View Health - chemo@home news.
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Biosimilar Guidelines
View Health chemo@home have developed new Biosimilar clinical guidelines, the purpose of which is to ensure all team members are aware of the processes to be followed when one or more biosimilars are available.
We have successfully transitioned patients being treated with bevacizumab over from the originator brand (Avastin®) to the generic (Mvasi®) and have plans in place for future medications e.g., trastuzumab.
For our patients, we offer the following information to help guide them “Explaining Biosimilar Medications” (https://chemoathome.com.au/explaining-biosimilar-medications/ )
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Research Review
Our paper titled "COVID-19 prompts rapid and safe transition of chemotherapy into homes" authored by Prof Tim Price, Dr Andrew Vanlint (both from RAH) and Julie Adams (our Managing Director) has been accepted for publication in the Australian Health Review. The Australian Health Review explores health policy and management including healthcare delivery systems, clinical programs and health financing, so it is the perfect place to publish our paper on the RAH’s COVID-19 risk mitigation strategy which involved rapidly transitioning patients receiving cancer therapies out of the day-unit and into the home.
We have also had TWO abstracts for COSA, accepted. The first will be an oral presentation in the “Best of the Best”, Health Service’s stream and is a more detailed version of the above. The second is by the pharmacy team on the "Safety of Rapid Infusion Bevacizumab Biosimilar'.
The pharmacy team have done an amazing job developing biosimilar clinical guidelines, researching and developing a consensus around the rate of administration for biosimilar bevacizumab, implementing a communication strategy for patients and specialists, and then prospectively monitoring the outcome of the patients who were changed from Avastin® to Mvasi®.
We look forward to sharing this with you in the near future.
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Email Changes with Encryption
Cyber security and minimising the risk of cyber-attack on sensitive health information is an area we are heavily focussed on. Safeguarding both yours and our patient’s data is paramount, which is why you will notice some changes to our emails in the coming months.
We will be introducing email encryption, requiring the retrieval of a verification code to access your emails, which may cause a minor inconvenience with some email providers. Rest assured we will do all we can to make this as smooth as possible while giving you the additional comfort of improved cyber security.
You’ll receive further information form us prior to rolling out the new email encryption process.
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Covid Safe Practices and Vaccination
As we all know, COVID has changed the way healthcare is being provided around Australia.
We wanted to summarise a few key points, and offer reassurance to you and your patients about the safety of having treatment at home with our skilled nursing team
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- 98% of our nurses are COVID vaccinated (87% fully, 11% partially). The 2% are unvaccinated for medical reasons.
- All nurses in NSW are undergoing once or twice weekly surveillance testing, depending on the areas they work and live.
- If a nurse is not vaccinated, and is in an area of community spread (i.e. in lockdown), they are either:
- removed from clinical service if workload allows; or undertake weekly covid surveillance testing.
- All nurses in lockdown areas wear full PPE including face shields.
All information sheets on standard contact and droplet precautions are available upon request
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Medical Billing Workshop
Last month we were lucky enough to have Loryn Einstein, from Medical Billing Experts, present an update on Medical Billing for our Specialists. She was joined by Dr Arman Hasani, Medical Oncologist in WA, Dr Wojt Janowski, Haematologist in Newcastle, and our Managing Director and Clinical Pharmacist Julie Adams for a great panel discussion.
We have summarised some of the key messages, available on our website by clicking the link below, and logging in (or registering) for health professional access.
If you have any issues accessing this, please contact your local Customer Liaison Rep
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Service Area update
We have further updated our coverage area maps to include Newcastle, Port Macquarie, Canberra and the Tweed heads area. Our nursing team is still rapidly expanding, as we welcome more and more new team members around Australia.
To easily check If your patient is within our coverage area – please use our new Postcode checker on our website
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Tocilizumab (Actemra®) Shortage
As our referring rheumatologists are aware, there is a major shortage/unavailability of tociluzimab vials. This situation is likely to continue to at least December 2021.
Some patients may still have some stock at home, in their community pharmacy, or with us, however, this WILL run out.
Specialists have been advised by the ARA, AA and the TGA to reduce doses, increase interval between doses or change to an alternate biologic medication.
The TGA has put out a guidance for clinicians in collaboration with ARA and here is the latest copy
What we have done/are doing:
- Sort and been granted approved by ALL health funds for a special item number to allow us to educate and train patients on subcutaneous administration of alternate biologics OR to subcutaneously administer alternate biologics for rheumatic conditions if a patient is unable to self-administer during this time;
- Assessing the cost implications for the importation of tocilizumab, under special access scheme arrangements;
- Contacting all patients advising them to urgently contact their Specialists, if they have not already done so.
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New health fund contracts;
We would like to announce that we have recently signed our new BUPA and AHSA agreement. AHSA represents 30+ member funds (e.g. Nurses Health, Police Heath etc). We are also very excited to welcome Australian Unity, who have signed with us for the first time.
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The View Health chemo@home team is growing as we expand nation wide, and we are always looking for new nurses who are passionate about healthcare, and want to be part of our fabulous company.
We currently have Permanent Full time, Part time and Casual roles available nation wide.
To learn more about the View Health chemo@home culture and see if it might be the right fit for you, please feel free to visit our website and click on "About Us"
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Don't forget to register under the "Health Professionals" section of our website. It only takes a few minutes and you will then have access to the most up-to-date version of all our documents e.g. referral form, hypersensitivity-anaphylaxis orders, treatment charts and protocols.
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Remember, the 1st of January is another Private Health Insurance year, meaning patients treated in private hospitals will need to pay their admission excesses. This may be the ideal time to consider View Health – chemo@home as our patients pay NO EXCESS and NO GAP, saving them money.
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Commendations and Awards
Women’s Weekly – Women in Business, Highly Commended Winner 2016
Business News - Rising Star Start Up Business and People’s Choice Winners 2016
Telstra Business Women’s Award – WA Entrepreneur and Business Woman of the Year 2016
AFR Aspire Awards – Start-up Disruptor Award 2016
AIM WA Business Pinnacle Awards – Emerging Business Excellence and Innovation Excellence 2016
Westpac 200 Business’s of Tomorrow 2017
Finalist West Australian of the Year (Business) 2017
Australian Institute of Management Leadership Excellence Award Owner/Entrepreneur 2017
Australian College Health Services Management – WA Branch Innovation and Excellence Award 2017
WA Innovator of the year award Winner of the Growth Category
HCF Slingshot 2019
Pharmaceutical Society of WA – Eric Kirk Memorial Award 2020
SA Health Supplier Award - Commendation SME Supplier Award 2020
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Call us now on 1300 466 324
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