Medicare Compliance & Reimbursement

Oncologists most likely to feel negative effects of new program.

Some physicians are optimistic about Medicare's Competitive Acquisition Program, in which at least two contractors per area negotiate with drugmakers to provide drugs to physician offices.
 
Many physicians have expressed doubts about the CAP program, in which a doctor chooses between billing for drugs herself or allowing a vendor to supply the drugs and bill Medicare directly. But 27 percent of physicians said they felt positively about the CAP, and the majority felt neutral, according to a survey released June 2 by Health Products Research, a division of Somerset, NJ-based Ventiv Health. 
 
Physicians said the CAP could increase drug availability to patients and would most likely impact oncology products the most. Further, cardiovascular agents, rheumatalgics, antibiotics and injectables could also benefit, physicians say.