Oncology Care Model Reduces Medicare Costs for Cancer Treatment

A study evaluating the benefits of the Oncology Care Model, an alternate payment model for Medicare beneficiaries with cancer, found the program offered tangible, if modest, payment reductions. The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services Launched the Oncology Care Model (OCM) in 2016 to help improve the value that Medicare cancer patients get from care. This program, according to the study, helped reduce the cost of high-cost episodes.

According Andrea Hassol, project director for Abt Associates, ““OCM had some impact on higher-risk, high-cost episodes, such as for lung cancer, but this was largely offset by a lack of impact on lower-risk, low-cost episodes, such as for early-stage breast cancer. A future model might be more successful by focusing on higher-cost episodes, where there is more potential for financial and quality incentives to make a difference.”

Read more and find a link to the study by clicking here.

(Source: Abt Associates, November 10^th, 2021)