Oncologists Lead on Reform, Ex CMS Head Says

Oncologists are at the forefront of payment and delivery reforms sweeping medicine today, a former head of Medicare said here Monday.

Innovations in cancer care delivery -- such as oncology patient-centered medical homes -- are blazing the trail for all specialists, said Mark McClellan, MD, PhD, director of the Health Care Innovation and Value Initiative at the Brookings Institution in Washington.

"If you look at oncology care, I think some of the most important changes in provider payment reform are actually being led in cancer care," McClellan said at the Institute of Medicine's National Cancer Policy Summit. "This is a place to look for what could be a model for reforms in payments that would affect other parts of our healthcare system, other specialties."

McClellan is involved in a project at Brookings to conduct a review of payment reform activities in conjunction with the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation. "We're finding a lot of activity related to cancer," he said.

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Source: Med Page Today