To assess the impact of the Oncology Care Model (OCM), the Community Oncology Alliance (COA) conducted a survey of practices participating in the OCM. The majority of respondents indicated that the program has been a success at lowering the cost of care and improving patient outcomes, and that they would like to see the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) Innovation Center (CMMI) continue the program or integrate its benefits into a successor model.

Click here to read the COA OCM practice survey results. 

The OCM is a federal payment and delivery reform initiative run by CMMI. The aim of the OCM is to reduce the cost of care while achieving ever higher care standards for patients with cancer. These aims are primarily reached by expanding non-clinical services, such as care, financial, and end of life planning, to ensure patients have needs met and do not need to utilize hospital or emergency room services that drastically increase the cost of care. 

With the OCM scheduled to end on June 30, 2022, COA wanted to understand how practices have been affected by the OCM, both positively and negatively, and how the end of the OCM and accompanying Monthly Enhanced Oncology Services (MEOS) reimbursement might change practice operations. Participants were surveyed about the impact of the OCM on cancer care, whether they would choose to continue in the OCM, and anticipated reductions in service upon the conclusion of the program.

Overall, practices indicated that the OCM transformed the patient experience for the better by comprehensively addressing patient needs and disparities. In open-ended survey comments, many revealed a fear that staff now considered an essential part of the care routine would be reassigned or lost (“Lay navigator and program coordinator will be reassigned to different areas within hematology/oncology,”) or that access to care would be reduced (“Ability for Medicare patients to access both Sat and Sun of the weekend will likely conclude.”).

In late 2019, CMMI previewed the successor model to the OCM, known as the Oncology Care First (OCF) Model. Due to the pandemic disruptions, it is unknown what the status of the OCF is; however, there are rumors it will be abandoned. Regardless, the OCM is concluding without a successor model and no communication around the future. 

Participants expressed disappointment that there was no successor or announced plan for the future of federal oncology reform efforts, and a willingness to continue participating in the OCM, even if MEOS payments were cut in half. 

Bo Gamble, COA’s Director of Strategic Practice Initiatives, said that CMMI has a duty to lead the way in practice improvement. “The OCM led the way for a transformation in the delivery of cancer care, as well as a mindset for continual quality improvement with emphasis on efficiency and value. There will be a void in leadership if CMMI steps away from this important work.”

COA president Kashyap Patel, MD, CEO of OCM practice Carolina Blood and Cancer Care Associates in Rock Hill, South Carolina, urged CMMI to not slow the momentum of the OCM and its progress. “Practices have poured time and resources into this important project with a clear benefit to patients,” he said. “CMMI should be thinking of ways to use the lessons learned from the OCM going forward, not ending it without a plan for the future.”

The dedication shown by practices to continue in the OCM, even with reduced financial incentive, speaks to the transformative nature of the program. It is COA’s hope that CMS and CMMI listen to the practices who are better serving patients due to the OCM and decide to continue this important program. COA has written several letters to CMS and CMMI asking for an extension of the OCM in order to gather more data on the effectiveness of the model and allow practices to transition into the next value-based care model, which has not yet been announced by CMS or CMMI.

Read the full survey results at https://communityoncology.org/practice-ocm-survey-perspectives-the-oncology-care-model/

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About the Community Oncology Alliance: COA is a non-profit organization dedicated to advocating for community oncology practices and, most importantly, the patients they serve. COA is the only organization dedicated solely to community oncology where the majority of Americans with cancer are treated. The mission of COA is to ensure that patients with cancer receive quality, affordable, and accessible cancer care in their own communities. More than 5,000 people in the United States are diagnosed with cancer every day and deaths from the disease have been steadily declining due to earlier detection, diagnosis, and treatment. Learn more at www.CommunityOncology.org. Follow COA on Twitter at www.twitter.com/oncologyCOA or on Facebook at www.facebook.com/CommunityOncologyAlliance.