(UNEDITED)The proposed healthcare plan before Congress includes a provision to cut hundreds of billions from Medicare over the next decade to reduce federal healthcare spending. While it's clear that there is need for some cost-cutting, we encourage our community of cancer survivors and caretakers to participate in the discussion of where we can afford to cut into lifesaving chemotherapy and the related drugs in cancer treatment protocol.
Community oncology clinics like Utah Cancer Specialists (the largest community-based specialty provider in Utah), which treat more than 80 percent of Americans battling cancer, are already struggling to care for Medicare patients.
Given that the administration is now discussing an additional $313 billion in cuts to Medicare, in addition to significant cuts already proposed, cancer care in this country is truly in jeopardy.
We all agree that the Medicare system is broken, even though Americans rely on it for approximately 45 percent of all cancer care treatment. In fact, the cancer care delivery system is already in jeopardy due to cuts in Medicare over the past two to three years, lowering reimbursement for chemotherapy drugs and administration to oncologists.
Medicare has cut reimbursement for cancer treatment to such a low level that it is negatively affecting the quality of care provided to our senior population. These are our most frail and aged patients. That this should be happening in America is shameful.
The Medicare cuts have now reached the point where cancer-care practices cannot stay in business and cancer patients often cannot afford necessary treatments.
Medicare does not reimburse for essential services required by cancer patients, such as treatment planning and care coordination. Oncologists are often reimbursed at less than the acquisition cost for the expensive cancer drugs used during chemotherapy.
Clinics across the country report a freeze on hiring and the cutting of staff -- and some have already been forced to close facilities, especially in rural areas. If further Medicare cuts are made, our cancer care delivery system will be dismantled just as the in-flux of "baby boomers" will need increased cancer care.
Health care reform should be guided by the principle that we "fix what's broken and build on what already works." Though the U.S. already has the best overall cancer care in the world (as measured by five-year survival rates), on average cancer still kills one American each minute.
We can certainly improve upon our successes. We have joined with other oncologists to present the Congress with specific programs to enhance the quality of care while controlling costs. We continue to do our part to make a better plan, both as oncologists and as members of the Community Oncology Alliance (COA).
William E. Nibley, M.D.
W. Graydon Harker, M.D.
Richard N. Frame, M.D.
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