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Payer Updates:

Bundled Cancer Treatment Pay May Be On the UHC Horizon

Published on Tue Oct 19, 2010

Plus, BCBS in Michigan faces DOJ scrutiny and class-action lawsuit.If you bill for a variety of treatments for patients with breast, colon, and lung cancers and you contract with United Healthcare, take note. The payer is testing a new program that pays oncologists upfront and bundles reimbursement -- which is based on the expected cost of a standard treatment program for the specific disease the patient has -- for the entire treatment program.The drug the physician uses will not affect payment. Oncologists will receive the same fee whether they use standard chemotherapy with generic drugs or higher-cost brandname treatments, such as Herceptin or Avastin.UHC is testing the program in five clinics in Georgia, Missouri, Ohio, Tennessee, and Texas.In other news: Blue Cross Blue Shield in Michigan was slapped with a class-action lawsuit earlier this month. This suit follows one filed in October by the Justice Department and the Michigan attorney general.According to [...]
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