on April 23, 2010 |
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Topics: Radiation Therapy, Oncology, Service Lines
My colleague Matt Garabrant just wrote a nice summary of the issues covered at the recent MEDCAC meeting about the use of radiation therapy for prostate cancer, and I thought it would be of interest.
Radiation Therapy has come under a great deal of fire recently, especially for treatment of prostate cancer. Although this is a lengthy entry, we felt it needed to be in order to do justice to the issue. So, please bear with me.
Two days ago, this issue formally went before Medicare, as CMS held its most recent Medicare Evidence Development and Coverage Advisory Committee (MEDCAC) meeting to focus on the use of radiation therapy (RT) for localized prostate cancer. The debate over prostate cancer treatment has been framed by a number of recent events.
Continue reading:
Unanswered Questions Abound at Prostate RT MEDCAC Meeting
on April 21, 2010 |
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Topics: Staffing, Labor Expense, Workforce, Benchmarking, Management Tools, Performance Improvement
A member just emailed me asking for benchmarks for nurse to patient ratios on inpatient oncology units, so I wanted to share the data with the broader membership. These data come from the Labor Management Institute (2008).
RN / Patient Ratios for General Medical-Surgical Oncology Units
Day Shift
Average: 1 RN to 4.4 Patients
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RN to Patient Ratio |
Percent of Respondents |
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1:2 |
4% |
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1:3 |
15% |
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1:4 |
27% |
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1:5 |
42% |
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1:6 |
8% |
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1:7 |
2% |
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1:8 |
2% |
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Continue reading:
Nurse to Patient Ratio for Inpatient Oncology Units
on April 20, 2010 |
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Topics: Health Care Reform, Market Trends, Strategy
After the health reform legislation was officially signed into law, I put together a quick post outlining the key provisions and the implications for oncology-providers. In that post I didn't weigh in on "so what does this mean?" - that's what I hope to do with this post. We've been tracking what's going on with reform and it's potential implications for cancer providers for some time. When we put together that content it was hard to know for sure how reform would impact oncology because so much was uncertain - we weren't even sure the bill would pass. Now it's possible for us to weigh in with a bit more certainty, but we still must acknowledge that a lot remains up in the air - many of the bill's provisions are backloaded to five years from now (if not longer) and a lot can change. With this post I hope to do two things - one, discuss the big picture of health reform and how it relates to cancer care, two, provide a quick take on implications of key provisions for cancer providers. I won't go into depth on every cancer-related line item, as my previous post covered that, and many are self explanatory. Ultimately, this is too much to cover in one blog post, but I'll begin conversation and we'll keep you updated on what we learn.
Coverage Expansion - A Good Thing for Cancer Providers
The expansion of coverage to the uninsured is good news for cancer providers, particularly for managing bad debt. While the expansion is done largely on the back of Medicaid, low payment is better than no payment. Other good news includes the prohibition of denying patients coverage due to pre-existing conditions, and elimination of benefit caps. Many cancer patients have struggled for years to get their care needs met - this bill goes a long way towards addressing that.
Key Themes of Delivery Reform
First, let's acknowledge that there are not a lot of oncology specific provisions in the reform bill. That said, broadly speaking, when it comes to delivery reform (as opposed to coverage expansion) the key themes of the bill are all things we've been talking about in cancer care for a long time:
- Improve care coordination
- Provide care in accordance with national guidelines
- Ensure all who need care can access it
- Expand access to end of life care and advanced care planning
- Increase use of Health IT
- Increase team based care and provider accountability
Bending the Cost Curve Through Improved Accountability
Continue reading:
Analysis of the Implications of Reform for Oncology Providers
