Noting its pilot program's success so far, UnitedHealth Group now
will expand its experiment to determine whether bundling chemotherapy
payments can reduce cancer treatment costs.
UnitedHealth reported last year the results of its pilot study, in
which it found that while spending on chemotherapy increased, the
overall cost of cancer care dropped by about 34 percent due to the
insurer's bundling of payments. Researchers cut the cost for cancer treatment by paying oncologists a single fee and rewarding patient outcomes.
Medical oncologists were paid a single fee, in place of any drug
margin, to treat their patients, and chemotherapy medications were
reimbursed at the average sales price. The study found that eliminating
existing financial chemotherapy drug incentives increased the use of
chemotherapy, and bundling payments and rewarding positive outcomes
resulted in a significant total cost reduction.
UnitedHealth says that the program will reduce the percentage of
after-the-fact claim denials, which can cause frustration and extra cost
for patients. In the long term, the insurer
feels that the bundling payment program will gather data about tens of
thousands of patients, as well as what prescriptions they are taking and
how well they react to specific medications.
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