More oncologists in the past few years have opted to consolidate with other practices in their area or sought employment at hospitals. Results from an ongoing survey highlights the ups and down of cancer care, with most professionals reporting they are happy with their chosen specialty.
Epocrates Market Research interviewed 200 U.S. oncologists in late 2009 on a range of issues related to practicing medicine and the healthcare industry. Epocrates is a developer of mobile clinical reference software. The Association of Community Cancer Centers (ACCC) cosponsored the "Cancer Care Trends in Community Cancer Centers Survey" project with Eli Lilly. This is year two of a three-year survey first conducted in 2008. The 2009 survey included ACCC members at 84 hospitals in the U.S. (Oncology Issues, July/August, 2010).
The Epocrates survey showed that 84% of oncologists would choose a career in their specialty again, 78% would recommend their specialty to medical students, and 56% find it helpful when patients bring in information they’ve found on the Internet.
However, oncologists were divided on how healthcare reform will affect oncology. Approximately 40% of the respondents thought there would be "a significant positive impact" for patients seeking cancer treatment under healthcare reform. The survey showed that approximately 30% of respondents thought the overall practice of oncology would experience "a somewhat positive impact" from healthcare reform.
The survey also asked physicians about their use of information technology. More than 50% of oncologists agreed that mobile clinical reference software, electronic medical record (EMR) systems, electronic prescribing, bedside bar code scanning of all medications, and computer physician order entry were helpful tools for avoiding errors.
"The amount of time you [save] using electronic references is a pretty interesting bit of information," Dr. Graham said. "I think all physicians are going to rely on online tools like this. They aren’t going to have a choice in the matter."
Results from the ACCC survey also demonstrated a jump in the use of EMRs in 2010. In 2009, 84% of respondents reported utilization of EMRs vs 65% in 2008. More than half (54%) of respondents who use EMRs reported using more than one software program.
Personnel was another area where practices cut back. Among the ACCC survey respondents, 57% reported putting a freeze on hiring while 29% had reduced staff and 10% had reduced services.
The most dramatic change was the number of respondents who reported either consolidating with other practices in their area or seeking employment at area hospitals. Almost half the respondents said they expect consolidation of physician oncology practices in their area, up from 30% in the 2009 survey.
"There is a sense that oncologists are starting to abandon their practices and are joining with hospitals as hospital-based physicians," said Al Benson III, MD, ACCC president and a professor of medicine at Northwestern University in Chicago.
"I think the biggest finding that really jumped out at us was that the recession is not affecting the hospitals as much as oncologists. They did not get impacted like the community oncologists," said Lee Blansett, senior vice president of Oncology Market Access for Kantar Health, based in Foster City, Calif. "This is a big trend change here. There was nothing subtle about it."
