“The Association for Clinical Oncology (ASCO) appreciates that Congress passed legislation to prevent what would have been devastating reimbursement cuts for Medicare services from going into effect on January 1, 2022. With this short-term fix in place, we call on Congress and the Administration to work with healthcare providers on a true long-term solution for sustainable Medicare reimbursement that supports access to cancer care for all Americans.

"Working with provider groups to test and implement physician-driven alternative payment models is a concrete and feasible way to address rising healthcare costs while improving patients’ access to care. Maintaining and improving Medicare beneficiary access to cancer care is especially important during and following the COVID-19 pandemic, which is expected to lead to more late-stage cancer diagnoses requiring more advanced and expensive courses of treatment and supportive care now and for years ahead.

"We thank Congress for taking action to prevent harmful Medicare cuts in 2022 and call on lawmakers to continue to support the cancer care delivery system.”