Community Oncology Alliance president to ‘tackle geographic disparities’ in cancer care
As Community Oncology Alliance president, Miriam Atkins, MD, FACP, has aimed to tackle geographic disparities in cancer care and advocate for patients on Capitol Hill.
Atkins, a board-certified medical oncologist at AO Multispecialty Clinic in Augusta, Georgia, has served on the Community Oncology Alliance (COA) board for several years and as vice president for the 2 years prior to becoming president.
Atkins spoke with Healio about what excites her most about the opportunity she has as COA president, her top priorities during her term, the challenges she has encountered so far and how she has overcome them.
Healio: What excites you most about the opportunity you have as COA president?
Atkins: I am looking forward to furthering the mission of this organization. I have been with COA since the beginning, and we’ve come a long way. I always tell people that when we first started out, no one knew who we were on Capitol Hill, but now everyone knows, which is wonderful to experience.
Also, since my time as president, so many women have come to me and said that they are so glad to see a woman as president, which is something that I didn’t really think about — I just set out to do the job. We don’t often realize what it means to other people to see someone like them in a position like this. So, that also excites me.
Healio: How has your background helped prepare you for this role?
Atkins: Part of it is that I was in the military, and when the military gives you things to do, you just do them. So, I’m used to just doing and when someone asks me to do something, I almost never say no. I keep working hard and do what needs to be done.
I’m also the oldest of two children and I’ve always been a go-getter and independent thinker. I tend to not rely on other people to do things — if I want something done, I tend to do it myself. Sometimes that is a good trait and sometimes it isn’t.
Healio: What are your top priorities as president?
Atkins: My top priority is to have even more people know who and what COA is.
We’re much better known than we were in the beginning, but a lot of people still don't know who we are. We are known on Capitol Hill and most physicians know who we are, but I want to further that so that patients also know who we are. I want patients to know that we are here for them and their needs. Our successful practices help further cancer treatment because the community physician-owned practices are in the communities where people live. They don’t have to drive as far to see me as they would for a tertiary care center.
The other thing I am trying to do is further the goals of the previous COA president, Kashyap Patel, MD. His platform was: No One Left Alone. His goal was to help tackle ethnic health disparities in cancer care and I want to expand on that because I have many patients with geographic disparities. Patients who live in rural America do not have access to the things that people have access to in cities, no matter their race or ethnicity.
Healio: What have you accomplished so far in your role?
Atkins: We recently had a Hill Day where we gathered more than 130 patients, caregivers and physician advocates to lobby Congress and the Senate. It was powerful. We are educating members of the House and Senate about issues that affect cancer patients. We want them to support pharmacy benefit manager (PBM) reform and support the Timely Access to Clinical Treatment (TACT) Act (HR 4011).
Another issue we are working on has to do with mailing prescriptions to patients. It is currently illegal for me to mail a prescription to a patient from my office. It is also illegal for someone other than the patient to come to my office to pick up the medication. That doesn’t make sense. Many patients with cancer don’t have transportation and many of them don’t feel well enough to come into the office so they may need to send a family member to the office to pick up the medication. Oncology drugs are not controlled substances, they are not narcotics. So, why is this a violation? It is simply someone’s underhanded way to undermine community oncology practices and make it harder for us to work, function and serve our patients. Those rules are not about safety and it’s an uphill battle. We go to Capitol Hill and tell officials about safety and how to possibly control costs but then when it comes to voting, sometimes it all falls on deaf ears.
Healio: What other challenges have you encountered and how have you overcome them?
Atkins: The biggest challenges are some of the rules that are coming down from Capitol Hill. Our big push is to get more transparency for 340B, and to have more transparency for the PBMs, because those entities are inhibiting cancer care. PBMs are not providing any service for oncology patients but are inhibiting a lot of patient care. So, we are working on that. We go to Capitol Hill and speak with our legislators and have a uniform voice about what we want them to remember. We’re aware that they have a lot of asks/initiatives in front of them. Many organizations are coming at them from all angles about what they want. It’s important to have a focused, uniform voice about what we need for physician-owned community-based oncology practices.
Healio: What advice would you offer other women in the field who may consider taking on a role like this?
Atkins: I would say go for it. If the door opens, walk through that door because you never know what kind of impact you may have. When different groups of people have the opportunity to work together, things get better for everyone.
Healio: Do you have anything else that you would like to mention?
Atkins: Oncology is a moving target and is an exciting field.
As an intern, the last specialty I wanted to be a part of was oncology but then as a resident, everything changed. There have been so many changes in oncology during the past 30 years since I started in this specialty. As an intern, I saw many patients with cancer who were sick. A large majority of the patients had to be treated in the hospital. Now, people aren’t as sick, they come into the office, get treatment and then go back to work. They keep living and have productive lives, and that is the beauty of it.
For more information:
Miriam Atkins, MD, FACP, can be reached at miratkins@aol.com.
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