ASCO fears CMS proposals 'endanger' access to cancer care

The American Society of Clinical Oncology voiced concerns in a comment letter that CMS's proposed changes to Medicare Part B payment policies for 2019 would "endanger" patient access to cancer care. It urged CMS to adopt new payment models -- including the society's own -- to help Medicare achieve greater cost-effectiveness.

CMS's proposed rule was unveiled in July and contains changes to the physician fee schedule (PFS) and Quality Payment Program (QPP) for 2019, including consolidating evaluation and management (E/M) payments, creating add-on codes for inherent visit complexity and using new scoring methodology for Merit-Based Incentive Payment System (MIPS) performance...