Postby lohidoc » Fri Apr 11, 2014 7:24 pm
Thank you all for the replies. So my understanding is that:
1. Medicare covers the over-65, cancer is more common in that age group, hence oncologists get a proportionally large amount of income from medicare. I get that.
2. Is it true that all or most oncologists provide chemo in their offices? This of course implies significant overhead expenses. They obtain the drugs directly from the company, at I presume a discount, and then sell the drugs onto the patient and medicare. And I believe that medicare, and all other insurance providers are required by law to pay the full cost of the drug, plus 10% to cover expenses? If I am wrong please correct me.
So let me postulate a patient requiring a course of chemo that would cost $100,000. Oncologist gets the drug at a 10% discount (I suspect I am being conservative) and bills for 110%, which would net him $20,000 per patient. From this he needs to pay all of his overheads incl. malpractice, staff, real estate and equipment. And this goes not just for medicare, but all insurance providers.
I'd love to know what the patient load of a US oncologist is.
Are there any oncologists who provide chemo in a hospital setting, where the hospital buys the drugs?
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