The Oncology Care Model and Initiation of Systemic Therapy for Cancer

Did the Oncology Care Model (OCM) lead to an increase in the likelihood of initiating chemotherapy for cancer, and did it impact spending?In this quasi-experimental study of 750 483 patients with incident cancer and 517 858 patients with a poor-prognosis cancer, OCM was not associated with an increase in the likelihood of initiating systemic therapy episodes among patients with incident cancers but was associated with less chemotherapy initiation among patients with poor-prognosis cancers. The OCM was also associated with lower spending among patients with poor-prognosis cancers.These findings suggest that by not examining changes in chemotherapy initiation, the OCM evaluation may have underestimated savings related to the model.

Corresponding Author: Nancy L. Keating, MD, MPH, Department of Health Care Policy, Harvard Medical School, 180 Longwood Ave, Boston, MA 02115 (keating@hcp.med.harvard.edu).

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