CMS has announced that the Oncology Care Model (OCM) developed by the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation has 196 practices and 17 payers enrolled for participation.
The Oncology Care Model (OCM) developed by the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation (CMMI) has 196 practices and 17 payers enrolled for participation, CMS announced earlier today. The OCM, a 5-year model that begins on July 1, 2016, and runs through June 30, 2021, is focused on providing better, more coordinated care.
The OCM is a value-based model that includes financial and performance accountability for episodes of care for chemotherapy administration in patients with cancer, with the objective of improving care while lowering costs. Shared decision-making with patients is encouraged under the OCM, and physicians are provided an incentive to comprehensively address the complex care needs of patients receiving chemotherapy, while improving outcomes.
Participation of commercial payers is an added incentive for practices to participate in the model. Aligned financial incentives among commercial health plans and CMS will help the model reach a much broader population of patients. Additionally, payers will have the flexibility to design their own payment incentives for providers while aligning with CMMIs goals of care.
With a 6-month episode that begins with chemotherapy, participating practices are expected to:
The 2 part payment system under OCM includes a per-beneficiary Monthly Enhanced Oncology Service payment for the duration of the episode, which is set at $160. There is also the potential for a performance-based payment for episodes of chemotherapy care, an incentive to lower total costs and improve care rendered during a defined episode.
The Biden administration recently launched the Global Health Security Strategy, a new effort to combat the spread of infectious diseases; lawmakers zeroed in on the risks of massive consolidation in health care during the first congressional hearing on the Change Healthcare hack; the FDA recently announced the recall of a pair of heart devices linked to numerous deaths and injuries.
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