The 2014 Trends in Cancer Programs Survey is year five of an ongoing survey of ACCC-member cancer programs, designed to educate on nationwide developments in the business aspects of cancer care. The survey is also a tool to assist members in evaluating their own organization's performance relative to similar cancer programs.
Increasingly cancer programs report proactively developing their own guidelines to help measure and track the quality of care provided rather than waiting to be told what to do by payers. While the use of metrics to track and measure quality is increasing, only 28% of respondents report that their payers require quality measures—but most believe this is coming in the future.
Demand for patient-centered care is still going strong. An increasing number of cancer programs are stepping up efforts to ensure that they are ready for the American College of Surgeons' Commission on Cancer (CoC) standards that go into effect in 2015, including those related to palliative care, clinical trials, patient navigation, cancer survivorship, and genetic counseling.
The patient-centered field of financial advocacy is thriving, with 90% of survey respondents offering financial assistance services, and 84% reporting that they have "financial specialists" on staff.
More cancer programs say they are participating in Accountable Care Organizations (ACOs). Twenty-four percent of respondents reported that they are currently involved with an ACO that has an oncology component, a significant uptick from 5% in 2013. Twenty-two percent stated that they intended to participate in an ACO in the future.
The trend towards market consolidation seems to have slowed; 72% percent of respondents in this year's survey reported they saw "no marketplace changes" this past year, and only 9% reported consolidation through affiliation (compared to 19% in the 2013 survey).
Cancer programs are still challenged by oral oncolytics; despite the increasing number of oral agents on the market, only 30% of survey respondents report that their cancer program actually dispenses oral agents.
Participation in the 340B Drug Program is growing rapidly; nearly 60% of respondents say that they participate in this drug discount program. This number has more than doubled since the first year of ACCC's Trends survey, when only 26% reported 340B Program participation. Sixty-one percent anticipate participating in the future.
The full 2014 Trending Now in Cancer Care Survey is available to ACCC members only.
If you have any questions about the survey, please contact Provider Resources.
The survey is a joint project between ACCC and Lilly Oncology.