New Payment Model Saved Oncology Groups $33 Million, Study Finds

The total cost of caring for patients with three types of cancers was lowered by more than a third, in a new study detailing use of an experimental physician-payment method, an alternative to the widely used fee-for-service model. The results are encouraging, oncology and health policy leaders say. More initiatives that provide optimal care in a cost-efficient manner are needed to help curtail the skyrocketing and unsustainable cost of cancer care in the U.S., the leaders agree.

In a pilot launched in October 2009, five medical oncology groups collaborated with the insurer UnitedHealthcare to use an episode payment model, which reimbursed physicians on a fixed-price, based on episodes of best-practices and patient outcomes. The collaboration explored an alternative to the fee-for-service method, which ties financial incentives to billing for chemotherapy drugs.

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