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FDA Commissioner Outlines New Plan to Increase Biosimilars by “Balancing Innovation and Competition”
FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb, MD, has been outspoken about the critical need to reign in drug prices. Biosimilars are crucial for improving patient access to biologic drugs at an affordable cost. Biologics are now key in the treatment of cancer and autoimmune conditions. But cost remains an obstacle to access to drug therapy.
Utilization management strategies allow payers to manage the cost of healthcare benefits, but according to Ray D. Page, DO, PhD, FACOI, President, the Center for Cancer and Blood Disorders, Weatherford, TX, this practice often leads to burdensome requirements on oncologists and an increased administrative workload.
What are the most noteworthy trends that can affect an oncology practice’s strategic planning, budgeting, and bottom line? The Association of Community Cancer Centers (ACCC) partnered with the Advisory Board Company to identify some of those trends in the 2017 Trending Now in Cancer Care Survey. The survey results were presented at the 2018 ACCC Annual Meeting & Cancer Center Business Summit.
Oncologists are operating in a whole new world as healthcare transitions to value-based care.
By now all oncologists know that the implementation of the Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization Act of 2015 (MACRA) is shifting physician reimbursement from a volume- to a value-based model. To succeed with MACRA, practices must become familiar with how this will affect them and get ready to incorporate the new measures to ensure they get the best level of reimbursement under this program.
Cancer drug costs are escalating at an even faster rate, at least in part because of accelerated new approvals by the FDA and higher drug unit costs.
Self-pay accounts receivable in healthcare includes true self-pay (ie, patients with no health insurance) and the patient responsibility after insurance.
It is no surprise that physicians are at a disadvantage when it comes to personal financial management. Although physicians receive the best medical training in the world, they are not provided with the knowledge necessary to deal with the business realities of practicing medicine or their financial well-being.
As the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) promotes the transition of medical payments from volume to value, advanced Alternative Payment Models (APMs), which provide added incentives to clinicians to deliver high-quality and cost-efficient care, look to play an expanded role in the future.
As the healthcare system transitions from volume-based to value-based reimbursement, the question concerning industry is, “How will emerging payment models influence revenue?” The answer may not please the manufacturers of cancer drugs.