title: The effect of accountable care organizations on oncology practice.
abstract: Cancer care accounts for a significant portion of the rise in health care costs, and therefore, as national efforts escalate to control cost, cancer care will be a focus of concern. Cost increases in cancer care are related to many factors, including increasing cancer incidence in an aging population, the introduction of new high-cost therapeutics, and the high cost of end-of-life care. Accountable care organizations (ACOs) have been one of the major efforts directed at controlling health care costs. How cancer care will fit into the rubric of ACOs is not entirely clear but will certainly evolve over the coming years. The oncology profession has the opportunity to play a role in this evolution or could leave the evolution to others driving the process, such as the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), private payers, and ACOs. Ideally all parties will work together to provide a construct for high-value, high-quality care for patients with cancer while contributing to cost control in overall health care.
authors.affiliation: From the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute/Brigham and Women's Hospital/Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA.
authors.forename: Lawrence N
authors.initials: LN
authors.lastname: Shulman
mesh_terms: D060866:Accountable Care Organizations / Q000191:economics* / Q000458:organization & administration / Q000592:standards; D017046:Cost Savings; D003362:Cost-Benefit Analysis; D017048:Health Care Costs / Q000592:standards; D006801:Humans; D008495:Medical Oncology / Q000191:economics* / Q000458:organization & administration / Q000592:standards; D017146:Models, Organizational; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000191:economics* / Q000628:therapy*; D017410:Practice Guidelines as Topic; D011216:Practice Management, Medical / Q000191:economics* / Q000458:organization & administration / Q000592:standards; D017064:Process Assessment, Health Care / Q000191:economics; D016896:Treatment Outcome