COA notes in its 2018 Community Oncology Practice Report that since the sequester went into effect in 2013, around 135 independent community cancer clinics have closed and about 190 clinics have been acquired by hospitals.
“Shifting cancer care to the outpatient hospital setting costs all taxpayers, not just Medicare beneficiaries,” the letter states. “The actuarial firm Milliman estimated the shift from 2004 to 2014 to have cost Medicare $2 billion in just one year (2014) and, as a result, an estimated $500 million in the same year to senior beneficiaries responsible for the 20% coinsurance.”