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Welcome to the Becker's Healthcare podcast.

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I'm Elizabeth Gregersen, a reporter here at Becker's,

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and I'm thrilled to interview

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doctor Amit Garg,

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medical director of radiation oncology at Presbyterian

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and quality officer of the cancer program

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on our podcast today.

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Thank you so much for joining me. I'm

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very grateful to share your insights with our

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podcast audience.

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Good morning. It's great to be here. Thanks

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for having me. Perfect. Before we dive in,

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could you take some time to just introduce

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yourself and maybe tell us a little bit

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about your organization?

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Oh, sure. Yeah.

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My name is Amit Garg.

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I am very grateful to be practicing

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in

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a very large community based setting here in

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Albuquerque, New Mexico, where we serve

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a very large under

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underrepresented

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community with regards to

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cancer care in general,

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but also,

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more at large with regards to health care

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access

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as well quality, you know. So it's, it's

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really nice to be practicing here. My background,

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I I grew up in Houston and and

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was trained mostly

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in Houston.

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I went to residency at MD Anderson Cancer.

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A wonderful experience. I joined the faculty,

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after that and practiced

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in this community for,

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fourteen

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years as a faculty member of MD Anderson.

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And then about, two or three years ago,

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we were acquired by our local

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hospital system, Presbyterian Healthcare Services, where I've been

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practicing

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for the past fifteen plus years,

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in the setting.

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Perfect. Well, I appreciate you taking the time

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to, speak with us today and to kinda

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share your insights to our larger Becker's audience.

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You know, our listeners

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won't just be from the field of oncology,

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so it's always kind of nice to be

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able to share

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with hospital and health system leaders, you know,

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from the c suite to other specialties to

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to across the care continuum,

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what's happening. So

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I think to get us started, I'd love

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to just hear maybe the major trends or

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innovations

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that you're following right now when it comes

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to radiation oncology that maybe our listeners should

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be aware of as well.

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Yeah. Sure. Absolutely. I appreciate that question because

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it kinda speaks to

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where things are going in our field and

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trends in general

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with cancer care. And I think when you

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look at the big picture,

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probably the most important trend

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is that the indications

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for,

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you know, precise

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radiation therapy

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are continuing to rise.

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So, you know,

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there's a focus on quality of life as

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well as length of life.

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And what's being shown

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is that precision radiotherapy,

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such as in the form of stereotactic

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body radiotherapy,

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but also other types,

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are increasingly

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used

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to maintain quality of life, to actually improve

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quality of life in those patients who are

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symptomatic, but also patients

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who are treated aggressively

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and also lengthen life.

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And, you know, what what that's kind of

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done over the past,

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I'd say, one to two decades

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is it's really given clinicians and patients more

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options with regards to their cancer care.

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And

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it it's allowed us to be more aggressive

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in how we manage cancers. And

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and, of course, patients are living longer, and

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that's the other. You know, patients are living

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a lot longer. So as they live longer

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with advancements in heart disease and

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other

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other treatments for other types of diseases, it's

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made

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the treatment the precise treatment of cancer care

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all the more important

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in order to maintain quality of life and

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length of life.

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Perfect. And, you know, I'd love to build

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on that just a little bit.

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Quality of life and length of life, Those

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precision treatments obviously are such a major achievement

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and and, like you said, over the past

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two decades, such a testament to the progress

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that's been made. Is there anything that's happened

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maybe in the past six, twelve, eighteen months

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that has stood out most to you in

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radiation oncology or cancer care in general?

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Gosh. Yeah. Over that time frame,

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you know, I'd I'd say the the biggest

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area of progress has probably been public awareness.

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You know, we've seen several

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high profile cases, namely former presidents, including

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former president Biden as well as former president

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Jimmy Carter, both of whom,

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went through

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and more recently

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have gone through,

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radiation treatment as part of their cancer journeys.

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And, you know, I think our field has

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done a very good job in really demonstrating

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the mainstream

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aspect of radiotherapy,

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you know, and and and the high quality

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precise

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treatment

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of both primary disease in the body. You

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know, for instance, prostate cancer for

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president Biden and also for

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oligometastatic

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melanoma to the brain that was treated with

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stereotactic

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radiotherapy.

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You know, these types of things,

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these types of options and improvements in technology

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have improved the quality of life for

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those who are, you know, most well known

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amongst our population.

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But it's also helped to dispel the myth,

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that's still prevalent, I'd say. But, you know,

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the fact that radiation therapy is no longer

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always associated with terrible side effects like burning,

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peeling, pain,

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you know,

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vast damage to

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normal tissues all around the target area where

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we treat these cancers. I think

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the ability to

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effectively

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treat

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different cancers throughout the body, including the brain,

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head and neck, spine,

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liver,

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lung,

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bone,

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prostate,

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and other areas of the body. You know,

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the the ability to treat these areas precisely

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without causing the kinds of side effects that

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have been traditionally

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associated with radiotherapy is a huge advancement.

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And the fact that the public is seeing

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these

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advancements on a very,

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wide, large scale is reassuring to our field,

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I'd say.

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Absolutely. Yeah. That kind of that messaging of,

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oh, radiation, it's gonna

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be this horrible process and, you know, maybe

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even some people opting out of it and

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saying, I don't wanna put myself through that.

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And now

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on the flip side of things, that precision

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treatment, it's not just the precision of the

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radiation that's being delivered, but how it's being

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delivered. Right? So I think,

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as someone who reports in oncology, it's something

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I read all the time. But like you

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said to the larger audience of just

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being able to save those healthy tissues and

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be precise on where it's delivered is

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is such a big innovation that, hopefully, you

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know, that messaging gets out there.

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Right. Right. Absolutely.

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Thank you.

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Well, great. And I'd love to touch on

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too,

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you know, at Presbyterian,

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the community based practice and and the community

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that you serve,

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what are some of their considerations

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or the unique aspects to delivering care

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and providing, you know, like we said, those

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precision radiation oncology services within that setting?

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Yeah. Thanks for that.

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You know,

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in our community, we have a large community.

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And I'd say the most important aspects

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of what we do is access,

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technology,

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expertise,

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and efficiency.

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You know, we our whole goal is is

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to

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treat patients

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with

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the highest quality of cancer care, but at

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the same time, do so in a very

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efficient manner because the need is so

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great. So as you can imagine,

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in a state like New Mexico,

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we see patients

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from all different backgrounds,

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from all different areas of the state,

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and even outside of the state

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that,

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some have very complex problems and others have

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more

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straightforward problems. But I think the commonality is

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is that

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we wanna get these patients treated with the

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most advanced

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treatment options, but at the same time

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without a significant delay.

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And that requires kind of an understanding and

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appreciation

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of of all of the aspects

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of

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delivering care in a cost conscious environment. It

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it

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it involves an understanding of payer mix,

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technology,

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staffing models, population

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health dynamics, and how trends of

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prevalence of different community based cancers arise,

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you know, an understanding of integrated health care

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systems,

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and probably most of all, creativity in what

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we do, you know, especially with regards to

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staffing models,

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with respect to referral patterns and how we,

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help to,

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share

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the increasing indications for what we do with

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our referring providers

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and also the patient population

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just in general,

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education for screening, for appropriate screening, and

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timely treatment.

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Because as we know, when you catch cancers

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earlier,

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they're treated all the more effectively and without

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side effects and with

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an expectation of a great outcome.

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Mhmm. So those are things that we focus

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on in our community.

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Access

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access is number one

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and access

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to high quality care

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on a timely basis

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is most important.

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Perfect. Thank you for laying that out too.

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I I love that you touched on, you

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know, access doesn't just mean

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accessing care, you know, being able to schedule

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appointment. It means all those different factors that

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you mentioned, payer,

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considerations,

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and time, and and all those different,

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you know, sometimes barriers. Right? So,

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it's always so valuable to hear from someone

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who's there and and doing the work to

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to kind of streamline and and find those

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solutions to providing care access. So thank you

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for sharing that. And and that's all the

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time we have. So I'd love to thank

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you for joining me on the podcast today

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as well. It's been such an informative discussion.

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Oh, thank you for having me. I appreciate

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it.

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Alright. And I invite our listeners to tune

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in some more podcasts from Becker's Healthcare by

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visiting our podcast page at beckershospitalreview.com.

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I hope you all have a wonderful rest

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of your day. Thanks.