Baltimore, MD—The preliminary results of a 2009 survey on cancer care trends among community hospital cancer centers indicates the growing impact of the recession, with data showing a greater inability of patients to pay for cancer care and a freezing of plans to purchase new equipment.
The Internet survey collected data from 84 Association of Community Cancer Centers (ACCC) members in September and October 2009 and was presented at the group’s 36th Annual National Meeting by Lee Blansett, MBA, of Kantar Health. The majority of respondents (73%) were community hospital comprehensive or community hospital cancer programs, and most provided both in- and outpatient services.
“We are facing an environment where we’re going to have to be able to do more with less,” Mr Blansett acknowledged in outlining the reasons for the survey. Determining benchmarks in the business aspects of cancer care may be a helpful starting point for changing practice and retaining profitability, he indicated.
Community oncology practices are definitely feeling the pinch, with 58% of respondents acknowledging an impact to their practice from the recession, and in that group, reports of decreased patient volume (52%), an inability of patients to pay out-of-pocket costs (59%), and an impact of these financial difficulties influencing a patient’s choice of treatment (50%). In addition, more patients are being referred to hospitals for chemotherapy (rising to 18% in 2009 from 11% in 2007).
As a result, hospitals also report a financial impact, with 88% of respondents indicating that patients need assistance with copays or coinsurance, prescription drug expenses (87%), and even transportation costs (78%). Survey data also indicated a shift in patient mix—a decrease in patients with commercial insurance and a rise in under- or uninsured patients, further contributing to hospital cancer programs’ woes. Nevertheless, because hospital programs have a more diversified revenue stream and are less dependent on drugs as the major source of profits, they may be better positioned to ride out the recession, Mr Blansett noted.
Given the state of the economy, survey findings regarding capital upgrades for 2010 were perhaps not surprising. Linear accelerators, ultrasound machines, computed tomography (CT) scanners, magnetic resonance imaging machines, and positron emission tomography (PET) are essential components in diagnosing and treating cancers, but for now, cancer centers appear ready to stand pat with the equipment currently on hand. Most dramatically, no PET or PET/CT machines were budgeted for 2009, and planned purchases of all types of equipment were dramatically lower.
