Many oncology practices were motivated to join the Oncology Care Model (OCM) in order to keep up with the evolution of value-based care. But when the Center for Medicare & Medicaid Innovation (CMMI) started telling practices that their applications had been accepted, it was panic time for some, says Robert “Bo” Gamble, director of strategic practice initiatives for the Community Oncology Alliance (COA).

Officially launched this month, the OCM is designed to gradually introduce a risk-sharing arrangement that will put the pressure on practices to use their own Medicare and Medicaid billing history as the starting point for cutting costs and improving care. Not only that, practices will be expected to make improvements in coordinating and managing patient care with other providers. All of this includes an opportunity to share savings that are hoped for through this program. Eventually, oncology practices will have to undertake more revenue risk in order to avoid becoming subject to CMS’s new Merit based Incentive Payment System.

Months ago, a core group of concerned practice representatives met with COA and went over the OCM. They were advised to create a brief list of major concerns they had about meeting the goals of the OCM. “We had about a dozen people, and they gave us a list of about 120 top priorities,” Gamble recalled. That prompted an “Oh, wow! This won’t work!’” But that was just the starting point. Gamble and others decided to pool their resources and get answers to the questions about how to make the OCM successful.

Continue Reading on OncLive