Pay Method Said to Sway Drug Choices of Oncologists
Anyone who has ever had a frank discussion with an office-based oncologist or rheumatologist is well aware that reimbursement structures for office-infused drugs sway the choice of drugs used. Pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies are certainly well aware of that fact. Now a study in Health Affairs has apparently put the practice into the peer-reviewed literature. Medicare’s new method of reimbursing for office infusions should help diminish the incentives for doctors to prescribe preferentially well-reimbursed drugs. It would be worthwhile for CMS to study the issue itself to determine if its policies are working. For those who are interested in this issue, take a look also at this article published last year describing how differences in Parts D and B of Medicare reimbursement create perverse prescribing incentives.
