What You Should Know:
– Thyme Care, the leading value-based cancer care enabler, today announced Julia Frydman, MD as the company’s first medical director for palliative care.
– An academic researcher and former assistant professor from a leading health system renowned for its palliative care and geriatrics department, Dr. Frydman brings important clinical expertise to Thyme Care and will launch the company’s Enhanced Supportive Care services. This virtual palliative care program will help eligible members and their caregivers manage physical and psychological symptoms and provide an additional layer of support as they navigate living with cancer.
Advancing Palliative Care Access and Quality: Introducing Thyme Care’s Enhanced Support Services under Dr. Julia Frydman’s Leadership
Despite evidence demonstrating the manifold benefits of palliative care, such as enhancing patients’ quality of life, understanding of illness, and end-of-life care, while concurrently reducing healthcare expenses, merely 12% of eligible patients avail themselves of these services. Various factors impede access, including a scarcity of proficient clinicians, limited outpatient referral options, and widespread misunderstandings regarding the scope of palliative care. Despite recommendations from the National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN) advocating for the integration of palliative care at the outset of a cancer diagnosis, misconceptions persist among both patients and clinicians, associating it solely with end-of-life care. Consequently, adoption of services aimed at fostering coping mechanisms and alleviating treatment-related pain and suffering is hindered. Notably, community oncologists cite patient and caregiver reluctance towards discussing palliative care and insufficient availability of dedicated staff as key barriers. Furthermore, referral options, when available, are often inadequately integrated into oncologists’ workflows.
Assuming the role of the new medical director for palliative care, Dr. Frydman will spearhead Thyme Care’s Enhanced Support Care Services. Through close collaboration with oncologists and meticulous patient selection, she will oversee a team dedicated to guiding patients through complex medical decisions, aligning their aspirations and values with their cancer treatment. These services will be seamlessly integrated into the company’s comprehensive cancer care model, complemented by a round-the-clock oncology-trained Care Team providing clinical support and navigation services. Dr. Frydman will not only offer clinical oversight and mentorship to the Care Team but also deliver direct clinical care to patients.
Before joining Thyme Care, Dr. Frydman held the position of Senior Assistant Professor at the Mount Sinai Health System in New York City, where she led initiatives to enhance access to top-tier palliative care through educational and research endeavors. Her previous roles involved collaborating with interdisciplinary teams to address complex symptoms, psychosocial issues, and medical decision-making among hospitalized patients. Dr. Frydman’s professional journey includes training as an Internist at New York University, followed by specialization in Hospice & Palliative Medicine at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, where she also completed a Master’s in Clinical Research.
“Palliative care doctors are critical and are so often the ones making sure a patient’s goals and values are aligned with the medical interventions and course of treatment. For a variety of reasons, those services aren’t always accessible to cancer patients and they often aren’t delivered in collaboration with the oncologist, leading to a fragmented experience for everyone involved,” said Bobby Green, MD, an oncologist and co-founder and chief medical officer of Thyme Care. “I’m so excited to welcome Dr. Frydman to Thyme Care. This is an exciting milestone for us, and a natural evolution of our cancer care model as we work with our oncology partners to support cancer patients.”
