April 2015

Like all new ideas or technologies, rapidly occurring changes present both opportunities and challenges for everyone involved, including government, patients, payers and physicians.

The rise of high-deductible health plans has been accelerated by the Affordable Care Act, yet for many oncology practices this trend adds to the administrative workload and creates deep uncertainty on the accounts receivable side.

The new Value-Based Payment Modifier program from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services may not be high on the list of concerns for the average oncologist, but its impact could be huge.

Given a handful of recent cases, and a recent update to the CMS Voluntary Self-Referral Disclosure Protocol, it appears that the federal government may be using the existence of these audits as a means for demonstrating that the provider "knew or should have known" that fraud occurred.

The American Society of Hematology is calling for the creation of a new clinical hematology specialty that would be based in a medical center or health system and would focus primarily on patients with benign blood disorders, while also helping to manage genomic testing and pathways-centered care.

The growing popularity of high-deductible health insurance plans has created a range of increasing pressures on oncologists and hematologists.