ASCO Patient-Centered Oncology Payment Model: Clearest Way to Move from Fee-for-Service to Value-based Care
ASCO in Action PodcastShow Notes
In the latest ASCO in Action Podcast, ASCO CEO Dr. Clifford A. Hudis is joined by Dr. Jeffrey Ward, a leading contributor to the society's updated Patient-Centered Oncology Payment (PCOP) model, to discuss how PCOP can improve patient care and lower costs.
"If we don't find a way to bend the cost curve, we're not going to be able to fulfil the mission to take care of our patients," said Jeffrey Ward, MD, FASCO. Currently the clearest way to move from fee-for-service to value-based care, notes Dr. Ward, PCOP "will invigorate our specialty and our practices" and "improve the way we give care."
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Transcript Disclaimer: The purpose of this podcast is to educate and to inform. This is not a substitute for professional medical care and is not intended for use in the diagnosis or treatment of individual conditions. Guests on this podcast express their own opinions, experience, and conclusions. The mention of any product, service, organization, activity, or therapy should not be construed as an ASCO endorsement. Dr. Clifford Hudis: Welcome to this ASCO in Action podcast, brought to you by the ASCO Podcast Network. This is a collection of nine programs covering a wide range of educational and scientific content and offering enriching insights into the world of cancer care. You can find all of ASCO's podcasts, including this one, at podcast.asco.org. The ASCO in Action podcast series explores policy and practice issues that impact oncologists, the entire cancer care delivery team, and most importantly, those individuals we care for-- people with cancer. My name is Clifford Hudis, and I'm the CEO of ASCO, as well as the host of the ASCO in Action podcast series. For today's podcast, I'm delighted to have as a returning guest Dr. Jeffery Ward, past chair of ASCO's Government Relations Committee. He's here today to talk with us about ASCO's newly updated Patient-Centered Oncology Payment model, or PCOP. This is an alternative payment model which he had a major role in authoring and developing. Dr. Ward, who in many respects could be considered a Founding Father of ASCO's payment reform initiative, is going to tell us more about the significant updates in this model, its goals, and how it could work to improve care for patients with cancer. Welcome, Dr. Ward. Dr. Jeffery Ward: Thank you. Good to be here. Dr. Clifford Hudis: Jeff, I'm going to dive right in. I've called you a Founding Father because you played such a critical role in shaping ASCO's more than five yearlong effort to develop a viable alternative to the current pay-for-service reimbursement system. Before we get into the updated model, can you tell our listeners a little bit about how we got here today? Why are you a Founding Father? Dr. Jeffery Ward: Well, my recollection is that it actually began about eight years ago, but it took three years to get a work product. Through an intermediary, the Brookings Institute, they asked ASCO if we had any ideas or offerings that the Congressional Budget Office could score as savings without driving oncology out of business. At the time, I was a brand-new CPC chair, and waiting with Rocky Morton from Iowa. We pulled together-- the CPC steering committee-- about 15 doctors, mostly from community practices, and had some fairly heated meetings focused on what has proven, over time, to be a very tall peak to climb-- alternatives to buy-and-bill chemotherapy. At the end of the day, we told the supercommittee that we had nothing for them but promised to stay engaged. That wasn't a good feeling. It wasn't a good day. And we decided that that wouldn't happen again. So, we put together a payment reform workgroup consisting of community, hospital, and academic-based oncologists, pulled in a lot of ASCO support staff, and hired a consultant-- or mediator-- to try and keep us focused. The only prerequisite to be on this group
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