Value Transformation: Observations on the Third Annual Evaluation Report of the Oncology Care Model

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) announced its third annual evaluation report of the Oncology Care Model (OCM) in July 2020, covering performance periods 1-3 activities and results. In March 2019, this author and colleagues offered observations in this journal¹ based on the previous second annual report on OCM, announced by CMS in December 2018. The current article builds upon those observations in light of data from the third annual report, focusing on potential opportunities for improvement in utilization and other performance metrics including end-of-life (EOL) care, depression and pain/oncology care integration, and application of continuous quality improvement (CQI) methods. OCM practices are continuing to evolve and their value transformation efforts take on a new sense...