Medicare spends less on all radiation therapy services than it does on just three top cancer drugs, although radiation is utilized by twice as many beneficiaries. Despite this outsized value, CMS has cut radiation oncology physician fee schedule payments by over 20% in the last decade – more than nearly all other physician specialties.
The ongoing cuts to radiation oncology reimbursement, coupled with broader cuts to Medicare services, threaten to decrease patients’ ability to receive vital, high-value cancer care close to home by driving practice consolidation and undermining the viability of smaller practices. These cuts also underscore the need for long-term, overarching reimbursement reform that will ensure patients can access the care they need.
ASTRO, the leading medical society for radiation oncology with 10,000 members who are physicians, biologists, physicists, radiation therapists, dosimetrists and other health care professionals who specialize in treating patients with radiation therapy, recently introduced Radiation Oncology Case Rates (ROCR), a legislative proposal for radiation oncology payment reform. We look forward to working with our Congressional champions to pass the bipartisan Providing Relief and Stability for Medicare Patients Act of 2023 (H.R. 3674) to mitigate the impact of clinical labor cuts. In addition, we need to advance ROCR to increase patient access to care, improve the quality of cancer treatments, reduce disparities for rural and underserved patients, and lower Medicare and patient costs.”
For more details about ROCR, read an overview from ASTRO’s health policy leadership.
Originally published on ASTRO.org
ABOUT ASTRO
The American Society for Radiation Oncology (ASTRO) is the largest radiation oncology society in the world, with nearly 10,000 members who are physicians, nurses, biologists, physicists, radiation therapists, dosimetrists and other health care professionals who specialize in treating patients with radiation therapies. For information on radiation therapy, visit RTAnswers.org. To learn more about ASTRO, visit our website and follow us on social media.