Signifying a change from 2007 enrollment trends, small practice oncology groups are enrolling directly in the Medicare Part B competitive acquisition program (CAP), BioScrip and several practices shared with OBR.

In early 2007, the Medicare Part B program’s vendor, BioScrip, reported that oncology scripts were written under the program, but very few oncology practices had signed up. “We had almost 300 internal medicine specialists enrolled in 2006,” said Russell Corvese, a BioScrip administrator. “Many had an oncologist in their practice writing the chemotherapy script.”

In 2008, however, oncologists—including several in the New York City area—enrolled during Medicare’s latest sign-up period, January 1 to February 15, according to BioScrip. This means that some oncologists are choosing to forego buying and billing drugs under the average sales price system (ASP) for their Medicare population and, for the moment, are sending a significant portion of their business to BioScrip.

Across specialties, there are approximately 3000 total physicians enrolled in the CAP. OBR will have an exclusive oncology enrollee breakdown, interviews, and analysis in an upcoming issue.