CRISIS IN CANCER CARE: ONCOLOGISTS CALL ON CONGRESS AND THE ADMINISTRATION TO ACT NOW

COA Seeks to Lead Solution to Shortfalls in Medicare Reimbursement
Threatening Community-Based Care

WASHINGTON, DC February 9, 2009 – The board of directors of the Community Oncology Alliance (COA) issued a resolution today urging the leadership of Congress and the Obama Administration to restore critical aspects of Medicare reimbursement in order to stanch the impending crisis in cancer care. The opportunity to educate our lawmakers during this time of discussion and appropriation of funds through the stimulus package is an opportunity COA sees to both save the lives of cancer patients while averting larger future costs as the healthcare crisis worsens.

“The cancer care community has been negatively impacted by the changes mandated through the Medicare Modernization Act of 2003, and COA would like to lead the turnaround in this drought of resources,” explained Patrick Cobb, M.D., president of the Community Oncology Alliance (COA) and managing partner of Hematology-Oncology Centers of the Northern Rockies in Billings, Montana. “We call on Congress and the Administration to act now to assure the continuing viability quality of the community cancer delivery system, which is vital to the 84% of Americans with cancer who receive treatment in own communities. I am committed to involvement with COA as a practicing oncologist who knows firsthand the challenges of both patients and physicians, as well as a citizen who believes immediate action will be the prevention to rapidly spiraling costs as patients are left untreated.”

COA is a non-profit organization dedicated solely to community oncology, founded to educate healthcare professionals, lawmakers and the public about community oncology.

The Crisis in Cancer Care
Since the passage of the Medicare Modernization Act of 2003, reimbursement for cancer care by Medicare, which covers approximately 45% of Americans with cancer, has been cut dramatically. With diminishing service payments, an increasing number of smaller clinics have closed. Loss of these community treatment options leads to treatment of more patients in the general hospital setting. The issue has become more urgent as both the ranks of the unemployed are swelling due to our economic crisis while the gradual increase in the elder baby boomer population – the sector whose primary cause of death is cancer – is expanding rapidly.

COA Resolution
The COA resolution calls for the restoration of critical aspects of Medicare Part B reimbursement in order to stem this growing crisis in cancer care, specifically by:

• Ensuring Medicare beneficiaries, as well as other cancer patients covered by private insurance, receive the highest quality cancer care based on recognized, evidence-based standards of care that are designed to control costs.
• Ensuring affordable cancer care to Medicare beneficiaries in their own communities—without the onus of catastrophic financial loss – as well as access to new therapies available via clinical trials.
• Providing to cancer patients, including Medicare beneficiaries, access to the highest quality palliative care and end-of-life planning that treats human life with dignity and respect.

The entire resolution is attached and can be read at www.communityoncology.org. COA has already taken several steps towards these goals by developing the most comprehensive studies ever undertaken to identify and quantify the components of delivering modern-day cancer care, the Components of Care Study and the Oncology Drug Access Study.

“By addressing the evolving crisis in cancer care, the Congress and Administration will be supported by COA in our re-commitment to the War on Cancer declared over 35 years ago,” added Dr. Cobb. “I personally seek the opportunity to work alongside Sen. Max Baucus from my state in seeing a strengthening in national cancer care delivery.”