Ben Jones Outlines Policies Having the Biggest Impact on Cancer Care Delivery

The proposals that will have the biggest impact on community oncology and cancer care delivery in general are those that are still pending, explained Ben Jones, vice president, Government Relations & Public Policy, McKesson Specialty Health.

Transcript

What are some recent policies that are having the biggest impact on cancer care delivery?

There’s been a number of policies that have really taken shape over the last 18 months that have significantly transformed community oncology and cancer care in general. One of them is around site of service parity; that is establishing a level of reimbursement field for certain services on a go forward basis and even in the last round of rulemaking for clinic office visits. There have been changes to 340B that have had an impact to community cancer care and cancer care in general.

But by in large, the biggest proposals are those that are pending. The president has released his drug pricing blueprint that had contained a number of changes, seismic shifts, in policy for Part B reform. They include step therapy, a relaxing of protected classes, but also a new international index model, the International Pricing Index Model, that would completely change the way that Part B drugs are acquired, stored, and administered to patients. I really think this could lead to a lot of disruption in access to timely care for practices across the country.