Dr. Pecora on How the OCM Will Transform Operations For His Physician Group

Andrew L. Pecora, MD, president of the Physician Services Division and chief innovation officer at Hackensack Meridian Health, discusses the Oncology Care Model (OCM) and other aspects of healthcare reform.

RCCA is a chain of roughly two dozen independent cancer clinics. This group of cancer centers has already been working with many different private payers to implement value programs, so Pecora doesn’t see profoundly different changes occurring at RCCA in order to accommodate the reform focus of the OCM.

However, many practices around the country have not had the advantage of prior experience with these types of programs, and the OCM for them will be a big step forward. These practices will have to learn how to ensure that care continues effectively and in a timely, well coordinated way after the oncologist has done his or her part and other physicians and healthcare providers enter the picture.