This report presents the American Society of Clinical Oncology’s (ASCO’s) evaluation of the adaptations in care delivery, research operations, and regulatory oversight made in response to the coronavirus pandemic and presents recommendations for moving forward as the pandemic recedes. ASCO organized its recommendations for clinical research around five goals to ensure lessons learned from the COVID-19 experience are used to craft a more equitable, accessible, and efficient clinical research system that protects patient safety, ensures scientific integrity, and maintains data quality. The specific goals are: (1) ensure that clinical research is accessible, affordable, and equitable; (2) design more pragmatic and efficient clinical trials; (3) minimize administrative and regulatory burdens on research sites; (4) recruit, retain, and support a well-trained clinical research workforce; and (5) promote appropriate oversight and review of clinical trial conduct and results. Similarly, ASCO also organized its recommendations regarding cancer care delivery around five goals: (1) promote and protect equitable access to high-quality cancer care; (2) support safe delivery of high-quality cancer care; (3) advance policies to ensure oncology providers have sufficient resources to provide high-quality patient care; (4) recognize and address threats to clinician, provider, and patient well-being; and (5) improve patient access to high-quality cancer care via telemedicine. ASCO will work at all levels to advance the recommendations made in this report.
Purpose: The purpose of the Oncology Care Model (OCM) is to improve quality and reduce cost through practice transformation. A foundational tenant is to reduce avoidable emergency room (ER) visits and hospitalizations. In anticipation of being an OCM participant, we instituted a multidimensional campaign designed to meet these objectives. Methods: Prior actions included establishment of phone triage unit, after-hours and weekend calls, and institution of weekend urgent care. Results: On the basis of data from the Chronic Condition Warehouse, as provided by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, we were successful at reducing the acute care admissions rate by 16%. During the baseline period extending from Jan 2016-Mar 2016, the hospital admission rate was 27 per patient, per quarter, at an average cost per admission event of $11,122, translating to an inpatient cost per patient, per quarter, of $3,003. In the year one reporting period of July 2016-July 2017, the hospital admission rate declined to 22.6 per patient, per quarter, at an average cost per admission event of $11,106, translating to an inpatient cost per patient, per quarter, of $2,505. OCM patient survey scores improved. In addition, at Oncology Hematology Care, we achieved improved results compared with the risk-adjusted national averages for the following measures: readmissions (4.9 v 5.6 per 100 patients, respectively), ER use (17 v 18.6 per 100 patients, respectively), and observation stays (2.7 v 3.6 per 100 patients, respectively). Conclusion: By implementing a cost-efficient, reproducible, and scalable campaign targeting ER avoidance and hospitalizations, we were able to decrease hospital admissions. Reported Medicare savings amounted to nearly $798,000 in inpatient cost per quarter over 1,600 patients.
The past decade has seen considerable innovation in the delivery of care and payment in oncology. Key initiatives have included the development of oncology medical home care delivery standards, the Medicare Oncology Care Model, and multiple commercial payer initiatives. Looking forward, our next challenge is to reflect on lessons learned from these limited-scale demonstration projects and work toward models that are scalable and sustainable and reflect true collaboration between payers and providers sharing common objectives and methods to advance cancer care delivery. To this end, ASCO continues its work on care delivery standards, quality measurement, and alternative payment models. Over the past year, ASCO has received input from physicians, administrators, payers, and employers to update its Patient-Centered Oncology Payment (PCOP) model. PCOP incorporates current work on provider-payer collaboration, the oncology medical home, and the value of clinical pathways and recognizes the need for common quality measurement, performance methodology, and payment structure across multiple sources of payment. The following represents a summary of the entire model. The model includes chapters on PCOP communities, clinical practice transformation, payment methodology, consolidated payments for oncology care, performance methodology, and implementation considerations. In future work, ASCO will continue its support of the PCOP model, including further development of care delivery standards, quality measures, and technology solutions (eg, CancerLinQ).
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