Quantifying the Value of the Molecular Tumor Board: Discordance Recommendation Rate and Drug Cost Avoidance
PURPOSE Molecular tumor boards (MTBs) provide interventions that assist the patient’s primary oncologist’s interpretation and application of precision oncology and avoid clinical and financial toxicities of prescribing inappropriate targeted therapy. In this article, we describe a novel method for illustrating MTBs value and recommendation discordance rate and report associated drug cost avoidance data. METHODS From January 1, 2021, to December 31, 2021, patients assessed by our program’s MTB were retrospectively evaluated. Recommendation discordance was defined as any disagreement between MTB therapeutic recommendations and those provided in the next-generation sequencing vendor’s report. RESULTS In 2021, our program processed 1,119 next-generation sequencing orders via external vendors for 1,029 unique patients with a variety of solid tumor and hematologic malignancies. During this period, 962 patients were reviewed through our MTB process. MTB recommendation discordance rate was hig