Report Identifies Considerations for Alternative Payment Models for Cancer Care

A roundtable convened by the Turning the Tide Against Cancer initiative, composed of a multidisciplinary group of stakeholders, put forth five policy considerations that are critical to ensuring the delivery of high-quality oncology care while supporting innovation. The report was published today in Clinical Cancer Research, a journal of the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR).

Alternative payment models (APMs) have become more common amid pressures to curb health care costs, the study authors wrote. APMs exist in several forms, including accountable care organizations, episode-based payment models, and oncology patient-centered medical homes.

"Stimulated by the Affordable Care Act, Medicare has called for rapid implementation of APMs, encouraging value-based care and cost containment in oncology practices," said IHPI member Gilbert Omenn, director of the Center for Computational Medicine and Bioinformatics, University of Michigan, chair of the AACR Health Policy Committee, and co-author of the study. "If structured appropriately and updated with new knowledge, these APMs can incorporate validated new therapies, encourage shared decision-making between health care providers and patients, and improve the outcomes of oncology care. Value-based strategies need to capture the advances from scientific innovation and clinical trials, and support evidence-based, personalized, patient-centered approaches."