The Impact Of Clinical Trial (Ctr) Participation On Savings Performance In The Oncology Care Model (Ocm).

e19367 Background: The OCM is a Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) alternative payment model, which seeks to curb costs while improving care for patients receiving systemic cancer therapy. CMS models the expected total cost (spending target) for each 6-month episode using historical, geographic and clinical factors including CTr participation. We evaluated the relationship between CTr participation, actual cost of care and performance in the OCM. Methods: We used claims for OCM episodes attributed to the Yale Cancer Center between July 2016 and July 2018. We stratified episodes by CTr participation and used t-tests and chi-square tests to compare total cost, drug costs (Part B and D) and whether actual episode costs were above or below CMS targets. Analyses were conducted for the total sample, and among the most common cancer types. Results: Among 9,387 OCM episodes (5,270 unique patients), 815 (8.7%) episodes involved a CTr. Among non-CTr patients, the mean Medicare cost per episode ($32,909) was modestly higher than the mean episode spending target ($31,746; p < 0.001), while in the CTr group, the mean Medicare cost per episode ($36,590) was substantially lower than the mean episode spending target ($48,124 p < 0.001). Mean drug cost was lower with CTr vs without ($15,650 vs $19,587, p < 0.001). Drug costs also accounted for a lower percentage of total costs for episodes with CTr vs not (41% vs 57%). CTr episodes were more likely to meet spending targets than non-CTr episodes (66% vs 56%, p < 0.001) overall and in breast, lung, and myeloma cancers, although only statistically significant for lung cancer (76% CTr vs 48% non-CTr, p < 0.001). Mean difference between target and actual costs was greater for episodes with CTr (- $11,534) than for episodes without CTr (+ $1,163) (p < 0.001). Conclusions: On average, episodes with CTr participation had substantially lower costs compared with their spending targets, while non-CTr episodes had slightly higher costs compared with their spending targets. While total cost of care was higher for episodes with CTr (as the CMS model predicts), drug costs were significantly lower. As drugs comprise a large proportion of total cost, lower drug costs in CTr episodes likely contribute to savings. Additional research should explore whether other OCM centers with higher rates of CTr participation are more likely to meet spending targets in value-based payment models.