The American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) is proposing to profoundly reform payment for cancer care. ASCO’s Patient-Centered Oncology Payment: Payment Reform to Support Higher Quality, More Affordable Cancer Care (PCOP) proposal marks a significant step towards value-based reimbursement, fundamentally restructuring the way oncologists are paid for cancer care. The group believes improved quality and reduced spending are possible by providing "sufficient payment" to support a range of typically unreimbursed services, including payment for care coordination and treatment planning based upon appropriate testing. Furthermore, PCOP would meet the criteria of an Alternative Payment Model as defined in legislation Congress enacted in an effort to repeal Medicare’s Sustainable Growth Rate formula. "[PCOP] ensures that oncologists provide the highest quality of care by getting adequate time to review and apply new genomic-based targeted therapies and immunotherapies," says Dan Zuckerman, M.D., co-chair of ASCO’s Payment Reform Implementation Workgroup, in a statement. "This model incentivizes the right care for the right patient at the right time—precision medicine with compassion." Central to ASCO’s proposal is addressing inadequate payment or currently uncompensated time for services critical to managing a complex illness. As part of basic PCOP model, the workgroup says oncology practices commit to delivering evidence-based […]