Oncology Practice Management ™
process improvements to enhance patient care™
www.OncPracticeManagement.com
February 2013
When Hospital Employment Is Not an Option Teri U. Guidi, MBA, FAAMA President and CEO, Oncology Management Consulting Group, Pipersville, PA
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ayers, just like the rest of us, do not want to pay more than they have to for anything. Over the years, payers have used countless strategies to reduce their costs. Some have worked, some have not. The most successful efforts include Medicare’s 2005 shift in drug reimbursement methodology from average wholesale price (AWP) to average sales price (ASP). At the time, the Office of Inspector General (OIG) estimated that the median price difference between ASP and AWP was 49%.1 In 2006, the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission issued Continued on page 6
Volume 3 • Number 1
Implementing EHR in Your Practice Requires Research, Training, and Patience By Wayne Kuznar
Atlanta, GA—Implementing electronic health record (EHR) technology requires a commitment from every person in a medical practice to reap the benefits of the technology. At the 2012 annual meeting of the American Society of Hematology, Mark A. Sitarik, MD, outlined the principles of successful adoption and implementation of health information technology
(IT), from selection to clinical decision support. As the Medical Director for iKnowMed at McKesson Specialty Health, Dr Sitarik offered an insider’s perspective, explaining that expectations for ease of use must be realistic. EHR will not make you faster, he said, but rather it will improve efficiencies in your practice. Continued on page 14
How Does Oncology Fit in an ACO World? By Gail Thompson
Dallas, TX—On a regular basis, news headlines across the country announce the opening of another accountable care organization (ACO)—a phrase that was rarely, if ever, heard before the passage of the Affordable Care Act. This game-chang-
ing healthcare reform element created the mechanism for Medicare providers to establish ACOs. At the 2012 Cancer Care Business Summit (CCBS), Ronald Barkley, MS, JD, President of the Cancer Center Business Development Group, Bedford, Continued on page 12
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INTEGRATING ONCOLOGISTS, PAYERS, AND THE ENTIRE CANCER CARE TEAM
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