Dr Jeff Patton on What Comes After the OCM

Jeff Patton, MD, chief executive officer of Tennessee Oncology, discusses if there's concern over what comes when the Oncology Care Model (OCM) ends.

Transcript

Is there concern or anticipation among providers about what might come after OCM ends?

I think less concern about what might come after OCM. It’s clear that we’re going in that direction with value, and so, we have confidence that OCM will be iterated and 2.0 will be better than 1.0 was. We have a fair amount of influence on that. I’m on the [Community Oncology Alliance] board, so I have a lot of input into the COA feedback. We also use Tuple Health as our consultants; they have the ears of CMS. I actually know, personally, the soon to be named director of CMMI, who is really smart and will give us a lot of confidence in building on the successes, and I think OCM has been a success. There are some flaws like any initial system, but we have confident that 2.0 will be better than 1.0.

What are your thoughts on COA's proposed OCM 2.0? Does it address concerns that providers have with the current model?

COA’s had a lot of input and a lot of help from Tuple and Kavita Patel, MD, to help address the flaws in the current model, but also it includes some things that should probably have been in the initial model. Again, a lot of confidence with what’s coming out of COA. I just hope we can get them to implement it.