A proposal by the U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) to impose a 19% reimbursement cut for radiation oncology in its Medicare Physician Fee Schedule (MPFS) for 2013 could negatively affect growth in the radiation therapy market by 6% in 2012 and 10% in 2013, according to a new report by market research group GlobalData.
The report concluded that while brachytherapy offers an effective and relatively inexpensive method of treating internal cancers, its popularity in the future will likely rely on its financial status.
GlobalData suggested that the growing cost of cancer treatment has bolstered the focus on cost-effective treatment options, and brachytherapy appears to be the most viable approach.
Brachytherapy saves money for healthcare systems, as lifetime treatment with brachytherapy costs substantially less than with radical prostatectomy and intensity-modulated radiation therapy (IMRT), the report noted.
