Three-Year Medicare Grant to Prove That Oncology Physician-Directed, Patient-Centered Cancer Centers Provide Better Care at Lower Cost
Space Coast Cancer Center has been selected to participate in the “Come Home” program being led by Innovative Oncology Business Solutions, Inc. (IOBS). IOBS, which was created by Dr. Barbara Mc Aneny, MD, CEO of New Mexico Cancer Center, has received a $19.8 million grant from the Medicare Innovation Center as part of its Healthcare Innovation awards. This grant will use the patient care policies created by New Mexico Cancer Center and implement them at six other practices, including FACILITY NAME, across the United States.
SPACE COAST CANCER CENTER IS BOTH PLEASED AND HONORED TO BE CHOSEN AS ONE OF ONLY SEVEN ONCOLOGY PRACTICES IN THE NATION TO OFFER THE “COME HOME” PROGRAM TO OUR PATIENTS.
Congress created the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation under the Affordable Care Act, giving it the authority and direction to test innovative payment and service delivery models to reduce program expenditures while preserving or enhancing the quality of care for those patients who receive Medicare or Medicaid benefits. The awards range from approximately $1 million to $30 million for a three-year program. The Innovative Oncology Business Solutions project, titled “Come Home”, is one of very few Oncology-based programs across the country.
Space Coast Cancer Center’s physicians and staff have been serving cancer patients in Brevard County, Florida for the past 30 years. Space Coast Cancer was the first practice in the state of Florida and the only cancer center in Brevard County certified for quality by the American Society of Clinical Oncology’s (ASCO) Quality Oncology Practice Initiative (QOPI). Space Coast Cancer offers infusion services, as well as radiation therapy utilizing the Varian True Beam and Trilogy linear accelerators (linac). We offer clinical trials sponsored by the National Cancer Institute, Sarah Cannon Research Institute (SCRI) and pharmaceutical companies. Space Coast Cancer Centers has an on-site laboratory that is licensed with the state of Florida and CLIA and is accredited with COLA, a national laboratory accreditation program. Additionally, Space Coast Cancer is opening a pharmacy in the Titusville center in 2013.
The “Come Home” program focuses on team-based care, which is directed by physicians, provides patients with seamless, integrated, high-quality cancer care and has been referred to as an Oncology physician-directed medical home. By avoiding duplication of care and providing patient education and significant support services, it is expected that Space Coast Cancer Center will help to lead the way for the next generation of cancer care.
Space Coast Cancer Center’s staff and hours of operation will be expanded over the next year to provide an alternative to expensive and inconvenient emergency department services. Patients will be admitted to the hospital only when medically necessary, and as soon as they are stable enough to safely complete therapy in an outpatient setting, they will be discharged from the hospital. Under the grant, Space Coast Cancer Center and other participating facilities will be comparing their quality of care and the cost of care with control-group practices and hospital-based systems. By the end of the third year, IOBC’s goal is to have a good understanding of all facets of cancer care costs so they can provide a bundled payment mechanism.
