A few weeks ago the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission (MedPAC) made a huge mistake. It voted to recommend Congress numerous changes to the way drugs are paid for under Medicare Part B. The biggest change would move physicians away from the existing system where they are paid based on the average sales price (ASP) of drugs plus a 6 percent markup to cover administration and other expenses. The proposal would drop payments over wholesale cost to just 3 percent in 2018 as well as introduce a drug formulary whose prices have been negotiated by third-party vendors.
If implemented, the most recent MedPAC recommendations will continue the slow death of our nation's cancer care system through poor public policy. They will add fuel to the fire that has been raging for more than a decade, pushing cancer patients away from the local, affordable community oncology clinics, and forcing them into the much more expensive hospital setting.
