On May 30, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services announced the opening of a second round of applications to join the Oncology Improvement Model (EOM) in July 2025. The application portal to apply It will open in July 2024.
MOE is a voluntary payment model aimed at transforming care for cancer patients. The MOE aims to improve care coordination, quality, and health outcomes for patients while holding oncology practices accountable for the total costs of care to make cancer care more affordable. affordable, equitable and accessible for patients and Medicare. There are 41 practices and three payers participating in the first cohort.
The Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation (CMMI) also announced several improvements to the model’s policies, including:
• Increase the base payment amount for Monthly Enhanced Oncology Services (MEOS) from $70 per beneficiary per month to $110 per beneficiary per month. For dual eligible beneficiaries, the MEOS payment will increase from $110 per beneficiary per month to $140 per beneficiary per month;
• Raise the threshold at which participants must reimburse CMS for costs related to their patient care; and
• Extend the model for two years, until June 2030.
The Community Oncology Alliance issued a statement saying it continues to see significant delays in data submission, meaning practices are forced to wait long periods of time to find out how they are doing in each performance period. In addition to unacceptable waiting times, practices still face some structural issues and are now facing uncertainties around MEOS. “While the CMMI updates are a step in the right direction, we know that EOM can continue to evolve in a way that works better for those who use it every day,” COA said.
“We are eager to see how community oncology practices respond to these updates. COA is dedicated to new models that transform the delivery of cancer care and benefit patients. “We will continue to work with CMMI on these and other improvements to the EOM, as well as future models,” the group said.
