Member of Georgia CORE’s Research Network Participates in New Payment System for Cancer Care

1/18/2011, R. Morton

According to the Atlanta Business Chronicle, Northwest Georgia Oncology Centers P.C., a member of Georgia CORE’s research network, will be participating in a new physician reimbursement program. The program will attempt to discover new approaches to best practices for cancer care, through a unique physician payment system. The program is designed to focus on improving quality of care for breast, colon and lung cancer patients. United healthcare will now pay participating oncologists at the start of treatment for the standard predetermined regimen for the specific type of cancer. Hopes are that this new payment process will place more emphasis on patient health outcomes as well as reduce unnecessary drug administering. In addition to Northwest Georgia Oncology Centers P.C., United Healthcare is working with several other oncology practices throughout the country. In the pilot each medical group will choose standard chemotherapy regimens and participate in performance reviews of their data with other pilot-oncology groups to determine best practices. The upfront fee will cover a standard treatment period, and in case of cancer reoccurrence the payments will be renewed. The article reports that, this is one of United Healthcare’s newest approaches to improving quality of care for patients.