One of the mysteries of the medical arms race is why the CMS administrators who have served in the Obama Administration (Don Berwick and Marilyn Taverner) never took action to eliminate the unjustified Medicare subsidy of high cost proton beam machines.
So, bravo to Blue Shield of California for doing just that, even in the face of inaction at the federal level. Here's the story from the Los Angeles Times. Excerpts:
As hospitals race to offer the latest in high-tech care, a major California health insurer is pushing back and refusing to pay for some of the more expensive and controversial cancer treatments.
Blue Shield of California is taking on this high-cost radiation treatment just as Scripps Health in San Diego prepares to open a gleaming, $230-million proton beam therapy center this fall, only the second one in California and the 12th nationwide.
This week, Blue Shield began notifying doctors statewide of its new policy for early-stage prostate cancer patients, effective in October. The San Francisco insurer says there's no scientific evidence to justify spending $30,000 more for proton beam treatment compared with the price it pays for other forms of radiation that deliver similar results.
"Proton beam is really the perfect example of all that is wrong with our healthcare system," said Cary Gross, a researcher at the Yale School of Medicine who recently compared outcomes for 30,000 Medicare patients who received proton beam or standard radiation. "The rush to adopt proton beam is far outpacing the amount of evidence to support its use."
In December, Gross and other Yale researchers published a study that analyzed 30,000 Medicare patients who received proton beam therapy or standard radiation for prostate cancer. Supporters of proton therapy say it helps those patients avoid common side effects from radiation such as incontinence and erectile dysfunction.
But the Yale researchers found that there was no difference in terms of side effects a year after treatment. Yet Medicare paid more than $32,000 for a course of proton beam treatment, compared with less than $19,000 for conventional radiation.
So, bravo to Blue Shield of California for doing just that, even in the face of inaction at the federal level. Here's the story from the Los Angeles Times. Excerpts:
As hospitals race to offer the latest in high-tech care, a major California health insurer is pushing back and refusing to pay for some of the more expensive and controversial cancer treatments.
Blue Shield of California is taking on this high-cost radiation treatment just as Scripps Health in San Diego prepares to open a gleaming, $230-million proton beam therapy center this fall, only the second one in California and the 12th nationwide.
This week, Blue Shield began notifying doctors statewide of its new policy for early-stage prostate cancer patients, effective in October. The San Francisco insurer says there's no scientific evidence to justify spending $30,000 more for proton beam treatment compared with the price it pays for other forms of radiation that deliver similar results.
"Proton beam is really the perfect example of all that is wrong with our healthcare system," said Cary Gross, a researcher at the Yale School of Medicine who recently compared outcomes for 30,000 Medicare patients who received proton beam or standard radiation. "The rush to adopt proton beam is far outpacing the amount of evidence to support its use."
In December, Gross and other Yale researchers published a study that analyzed 30,000 Medicare patients who received proton beam therapy or standard radiation for prostate cancer. Supporters of proton therapy say it helps those patients avoid common side effects from radiation such as incontinence and erectile dysfunction.
But the Yale researchers found that there was no difference in terms of side effects a year after treatment. Yet Medicare paid more than $32,000 for a course of proton beam treatment, compared with less than $19,000 for conventional radiation.
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