I’d rather not get
political, but ...
“There is nothing more important to me as
a physician than your cancer treatment.
I’ve been in practice for nearly two decades
and have had the privilege of telling many
patients that there is life beyond cancer.
As president of The Center for Cancer
and Blood Disorders, I want to lead by
example, practicing a firm belief
that all patients should receive the finest medical
care available, with the same concern and
compassion as a cherished
member of the family.”
Ray Page, D.O., Ph.D.
President and Medical Oncologist
The Center for Cancer and Blood Disorders
Schedule appointments by calling
817-596-0637 or online at
www.thecentertx.com
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Last month I praised President Obama in his State of the
Union support of a national cancer “Moon Shot” program to
reinvigorate the effort to make research advances to cure
cancer.
Then this month, ironically, with direction from the White
House budget, Medicare has proposed a mandated “experiment” to change the way in-office drugs and cancer care is
paid for in this country.
In one fail swoop, our government has gone from a battle
against cancer, to a battle against cancer care!!!
It seems that our governmental left hand has no idea what
the right hand is doing. This action from our administration
has very strong political inclinations. The design of the “experiment” is both illegal and unethical.
Without a doubt, we are seeing an unmitigated rise in the
cost of drugs in this country, with many of the new cancer
drugs being outrageously expensive. It is complex but
cancer doctors, at substantial financial risk, buy these drugs
to be given as IV infusions in the office. The government,
without taking in expert advice, believes that by further reducing the add-on payment of drugs purchases to razor thin
margins from 4.3% to 0.86%, it will drive the price of drugs
downward.
In 2014, I published a landmark peer-reviewed article
where our practice joined with 4 other practices across the
country to do a very novel oncology payment model with
UnitedHealthcare. We proved that even when we lowered
the drug margin all the way to 0% to remove any perceived
“perverse” physician behaviors, drug costs still increased
179%.
My practice helped prove this is not the direction our
government needs to go in paying for cancer care. This
proposal, slated to start in September, when implemented
will shutter community oncology practices all across our
country, particularly in rural clinics, such as in Weatherford.
I recently went to Vanderbilt University and gave a presentation to a large group of healthcare economists about this
flawed program. I then presented the same in a panel discussion at a national oncology conference in New Orleans.
I am heading to Capitol Hill in mid April to try to encourage
reversal.
As President of the Texas Society of Clinical Oncology
I wrote a letter to Vice President Joe Biden praising his
efforts on the “Moon Shot” program. And then paradoxically
a month later, I rapidly worked through our State Affiliates
Council to get 44 other State Oncology Societies to endorse
a letter we sent to Secretary Sylvia Burwell of Health
and Human Services expressing our concern over this ill
advised payment reform proposal and asking her not to
move forward with this type of initiative. Our State Oncology
Societies also joined with 300+ stakeholders in cancer care
in endorsing a letter to Congress telling them to stop the
drug payment proposal.
We believe that this type of initiative, implemented without
sufficient stakeholder input, will adversely affect the care
and treatment of Medicare patients with complex conditions,
such as cancer, macular degeneration, hypertension, rheumatoid arthritis, Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis, and
primary immunodeficiency diseases.
I love to write educational and inspirational articles related
to cancer. I prefer to steer clear of the political policy work I
do, but this one has too much gravitas to simply ignore.
On behalf of all patients getting cancer chemotherapy
everywhere, we need to now respectfully request our congressmen to ask CMS to withdraw the proposed rule.
To learn more about cancer care issues or to consult
with a physician about a cancer diagnosis, contact us at
817.596.0637.