Key Themes at COA 2025 Community Oncology Conference for Pharmacists

Pharmacy Times^® interviewed Judith Alberto, MHA, RPh, BCOP, director of clinical initiatives at Community Oncology Alliance (COA), about the upcoming COA 2025 Community Oncology Conference, which will focus on the theme of transparency in the oncology landscape. Key topics include the collaboration between hospitals and community oncology practices, policy changes, and enhancing patient treatment options. The conference will offer multiple tracks, including pharmacy, clinical, business, and general sessions, alongside networking opportunities for attendees.

Alberto emphasized the importance of data in supporting the role of pharmacists in medical care teams, particularly in proving their impact on patient outcomes, cost reduction, and patient satisfaction. She highlighted the need for standardized data and transparent metrics to validate pharmacists' contributions in oncology.

For pharmacy professionals, the conference will feature current, relevant clinical information, with a focus on the challenges and successes of community oncology pharmacists. Topics such as the implementation of bispecific therapies, along with practical advice on how to safely integrate new treatments, will be discussed. Alberto stressed the value of networking, peer collaboration, and learning from shared experiences at conferences to improve practice and clinical outcomes.

Pharmacy Times: What are you most excited for at the upcoming COA 2025 Community Oncology Conference taking place from April 29 to 30?

Judith Alberto, MHA, RPh, BCOP: I am very excited for this conference. It's going to be a great conference. I think our theme is looking at transparency in the oncology landscape. We're looking at how hospitals partner with the community oncology practice. We're also looking at some policy changes and how we can better give our patients choices of where they're treated. So we have a lot of great sessions coming up. We have a pharmacy track, we have a physician track that's clinical, we have a business track, and we also have our general track for the conference. We will have a lot of networking, and we will have a lot of support for all of our different practitioners that will be present at our conference.

Pharmacy Times: The COA 2025 Community Oncology Conference has several sessions related to data and advocacy. What is the relationship between data and advocacy for pharmacist's role in oncology care, and how could data be better utilized to highlight this role?

Alberto: Data are very important in our conference and in our pharmacy world. If we don't have data, we cannot support putting pharmacists where they need to be on the medical care team. We cannot have them in the spaces [where] they're growing in the clinics. We need to prove our worth. We need to prove that we are affecting outcomes. We need to prove that we are decreasing costs, and we need to prove that we're improving patient satisfaction. I think when we do that, then we will be able to get that justification. It's a challenge, though. It's not easy.

We need to standardize our data, and then we need to look at our metrics and monitor what we're doing, and I think transparency in that data is going to be very, very important. So that's something that we'll hear more about, and that we are working on in our pharmacy sessions.

Pharmacy Times: What are some of the strengths of the COA 2025 Community Oncology Conference in terms of its offerings for pharmacy professionals?

Alberto: So, what we'll hear at our conference for pharmacists are what's current and relevant in the oncology landscape. As we know, the oncology landscape changes constantly. There are new drugs—sometimes 3 and 4 a month. So, what we'll be offering is what's up to date, what's relevant, and what are some of the challenges that the oncology community pharmacist is seeing. So, we'll be presenting some clinical information, and then we'll couple that with how does the community oncology pharmacist put that into practice?

So bispecifics is one that we're all struggling with right now. We have many challenges, but we also have many successes. So, we're going to highlight that. We're going to highlight what a community oncology pharmacist can expect, and some different processes and programs in order to help them implement this safely in their practice. Really excited about this.

Pharmacy Times: Is there anything else you'd like pharmacy professionals to know about the benefits of attending the upcoming COA 2025 Community Oncology Conference?

Alberto: Absolutely. Networking is one. You will be able to be with your peers in a way that you can share your clinical information and in a way that you can share your practice management information. So, I think that's the first and then I think the second is we're going to provide some very sound and solid clinical information, and then we're going to help with showing you how do we implement this, what are the nuances, and what are our successes? So, you'll have that opportunity to hear and to learn, and also to be able to network afterwards with all of your peers, practice, share, and learn what they've learned. So, you don't have to reinvent the wheel.