The American Society for Radiation Oncology (ASTRO) says it will soon submit its
proposal for a specialty-specific advanced alternative payment model (APM) to a government committee for approval.
ASTRO initiated the process in October 2016 with the US Department of Health and Human Services' Physician Focused Payment Model Technical Advisory Committee (PTAC). That committee makes recommendations to the
Center for Medicare & Medicaid Innovation (CMMI), which, in turn, decides whether a model is worthy of a pilot.
Now, ASTRO hopes to seek formal approval for the Radiation Oncology Total Cost of Care advanced APM next month, in May 2017, said Anne Hubbard, ASTRO director of health policy.
Hubbard spoke here at the Association of Community Cancer Centers 43rd Annual Meeting.
ASTRO is hopeful that if the PTAC recommends its payment model, a pilot will be next. The group's formal application will be made public when it is finished, and it will solicit comments, she said.
"We're also very interested in hearing from folks who are interested in piloting the model," Hubbard said.
The organization began its work on a radiation oncology–specific APM in late 2015, she said. "We felt like we wanted to develop a radiation oncology alternative payment model that would give radiation oncologists an opportunity to meaningfully and viably participate," she said.
As required by the Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization Act of 2015 (MACRA), all physicians in 2017 must choose one of two paths to be eligible to participate in Medicare's Quality Payment Program: the Merit Based Incentive System (MIPS) or an APM.
