Thirty-three percent of community oncology practices are in acquisition discussions with hospital systems or merger talks with other practices, according to the results of a new survey commissioned by the Community Oncology Alliance.
The survey, conducted by Berkeley Research Group, found that 98 percent of respondents cited reimbursement rates for drugs as a challenge that threatens the viability of their practice. Meanwhile, 90 percent cited reimbursement rates for chemotherapy administration and 87 percent cited the cost of regulatory compliance.
For those practices in merger or acquisition discussions, 56 percent identified declining reimbursement as the primary reason for their decision to pursue an affiliation. A need to decrease costs was cited by 48 percent of respondents and increased competition was identified by 44 percent.
"The survey results seem to indicate that mergers between community oncology practices are evaluated from a position of strength, such as improving negotiating power, while acquisitions by hospitals typically occur from a position of greater financial stress," lead researcher Aaron Vandervelde, MBA, said in a news release.
In other survey findings, more than 65 percent of survey respondents said they believe that 340B drug pricing is a primary reason that cancer care is shifting from community practices to hospital outpatient departments. Between 2008 and 2013, the percentage of chemotherapy administration being delivered in hospital outpatient departments grew from 18 percent to 34 percent, COA noted.
"Community oncology is making incredible strides in innovating novel payment reform that is increasing the quality and efficiency of cancer care," COA Executive Director Ted Okon added in the release. "It's incomprehensible that misguided public policy is forcing consolidation of cancer care in this country and driving up the costs of care for patients, when it should be doing the exact opposite."