CMS Announces Bundled Care Payments for Oncology
The Oncology Care Model, to be launched in 2016, incentivizes cancer doctors to reduce hospital and pharmacy costs, in part through better care coordination.
A radical cancer payment model introduced by Medicare officials Thursday will pay qualifying oncologists $160 per month for six months for each beneficiary receiving chemotherapy.
In exchange, qualifying providers must run round-the-clock outpatient clinics to manage common drug therapy complications that might otherwise send their patients to the hospital.
"With this after-hours care, there's a way to treat [symptoms such as] nausea or vomiting… or dehydration without the patient going to the ED and being hospitalized," Patrick Conway, MD, CMS Chief Medical Officer said in an interview Friday. "That's where the largest savings from this program will come from."
The Oncology Care Model, or OCM, will launch in the spring of 2016, and could result in substantial savings in avoided hospital and pharmacy costs for many of the 1.6 million U.S. patients diagnosed with cancer each year, the agency said.
The model also incentivizes surgeons, radiologists, and medical oncologist treating the same patient to communicate with each other and with the patient's primary care providers, further reducing costs as a result of better care coordination.
Conway says he knows personally how uncoordinated cancer care is because his father passed away from the disease. "I, like many family members, spent a lot of time on the phone and on e-mail trying to coordinate my father's care, and I think we want a model that gives better care for patients," he says.
- Emergency Physicians: High-deductible Plans Delay Care
- 6 Ways to Torpedo Patient Satisfaction Scores
- Being a Doctor is a Health Hazard
- Capitation's Second Coming Debated
- BCBS Rolls Out 'Total Care' National Network
- Intelligence Report:
The Population Health Commitment - Speed Up Physician Credentialing, or Pay the Price
- 16 Medicare Advantage Plans Earn 5-Star Ratings
- Medical School Enrollment Hits New High
- Choose Hospitals on Performance Data, Consumers Urged
- 6 Ways to Torpedo Patient Satisfaction Scores
- BCBS Rolls Out 'Total Care' National Network
- Medical School Enrollment Hits New High
- Emergency Physicians: High-deductible Plans Delay Care
- Hospital 'Weekend Effect' Study Settles the Causes—and Solutions
- Speed Up Physician Credentialing, or Pay the Price
- 3 Ways to Boost Hospital Security
- Being a Doctor is a Health Hazard
- Evidence-Based Practice and Nursing Research: Avoiding Confusion
- How Urgent Care Clinics are Evolving
Comments are moderated. Please be patient.
radonc doc (2/16/2015 at 3:15 PM)
The idea of running clinics 24 hours a day is impractacal. There are not enough oncology doctors to do this. We already provide 24 hour a day phone coverage. I do not see this as a viable option.