Closures, acquisitions or mergers have affected community oncology practices at a rate of 15.1 per month over the past eight years, according to new data from the Community Oncology Alliance (COA).
Based upon a combination of public and private data, the 2016 Community Oncology Practice Impact Report covers activity between January 2008 and September 2016. The 380 clinics closed during that period represents a 121 percent increase over the number of closures in 2008. The largest numbers of closures took place in Florida, Texas and Michigan, according to the report.
The study also noted an increase of 172 percent in practices acquired by or entered into contractual agreements with hospitals. The 609 practices that hospitals acquired in the period may reflect the oncology building boom, which has contributed to a rise in the price of cancer drugs, according to previous reporting by FierceHealthcare.
The costs associated with hospital-based cancer care can be up to 53 percent higher than it would be in a physician’s office, and the difference frequently gets passed to both consumers and taxpayers, “From 2014 to 2016, it cost Medicare about $2 billion more to pay for patients to receive care in the hospital,” Ted Okun, executive director of COA, told Medscape.
Mergers or acquisitions related to corporate entities also rose 54 percent during the study period. Still, consolidation does not necessarily mean bad news for the affected communities, according to Okun. For patients living in rural areas, however, these closures can be devastating events, given the relative lack of choices. “In rural areas, there may only be one cancer clinic in the community,” notes Okun.
On the positive side of the ledger, Okun says his organization has seen an increase in the number of practices cooperating informally to push for payment reform and other issues affecting them.