Moran Report: Outpatient Chemo Costs Higher Than Clinics

Patients who receive chemotherapy in hospital outpatient departments cost Medicare more than those who receive the same care in cancer clinics, according to a Moran Company report for the US Oncology Network and Community Oncology Alliance. The oncologists are using the report to fight CMS' proposal to pay the same rates for cancer care in physician offices and outpatient departments. The Moran report finds that outpatient chemotherapy spending per beneficiary was 25 percent to 47 percent higher than physician clinic...