Michael Diaz, MD Co-Authors Article on Developing New Physician Compensation Models in Oncology

Fort Myers, Fla., Dec. 28, 2020 — Florida Cancer Specialists & Research Institute (FCS) Assistant Managing Physician Michael Diaz, MD is co-author of an article that focuses on the need for oncology practices to develop new physician compensation models. Entitled “New Landscape: Physician Compensation,” the article was published December 22, 2020 in the online edition of the Journal of Clinical Oncology: Oncology Practice.

Diaz and his co-authors point out that since health care has transitioned from volume-based systems to value-based systems, traditional models for physician compensation no longer work and alternative payment models are needed, especially in oncology. The article suggests that the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has changed how health care providers are being reimbursed to support value-based care through its new Quality Payment Program (QPP). It continues, “These new programs may require practices to update their current compensation structures as traditional compensation models (which rely solely on productivity in fee-for-service models) do not sufficiently support the shift to value-based models.”

The American Society of Clinical Oncology’s (ASCO) Clinical Practice Committee formed a work group to study the issue and make recommendations to oncology practices. The work group developed specific service categories and defined tasks that physicians regularly perform. After the service categories and tasks were defined, each member of the workgroup ranked each category by level of importance in their individual practices, which illustrated just how greatly physician job descriptions vary from practice to practice.

As the work group considered the issue, “ … it became obvious that a single model would not be able to adequately reflect the various types of practice (hospital- or community-based, city v. rural, etc.); that is, there was no one-size-fits-all solution.

“Instead, the workgroup developed a resource containing the individualized components required for implementing a value-based compensation model. The goal of this resource is to provide a starting point for discussing how to implement a value-based model by revising the health care provider (HCP) compensation structure.”

The article concluded that all oncology practices should “consider new structures to reflect these changes and be successful in a new reimbursement environment.”

To access the full article, visit here.