Insurance Reimbursement and Treatment Implementation Have Become Key Topics In 2024
Paxman, the global leader in scalp cooling and cryotherapy technology to help prevent chemotherapy-induced alopecia worldwide, announced today results of a survey it commissioned to better understand the state of scalp cooling in U.S. oncology care today and what challenges remain in ensuring access for all cancer patients.
Paxman presented an online survey to more than 3,000 healthcare professionals during February, where more than half (66%) said they believe scalp cooling will become a standard practice in oncology care over the next five to 10 years, despite roughly half of respondents saying less than 25% of their cancer patients have opted for scalp cooling throughout chemotherapy treatment over the last year. Additionally, Paxman found that more than half of healthcare professionals, but the majority (31%) say the insurance reimbursement landscape influences the decision to offer scalp cooling to their patients.
While scalp cooling has been cleared by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for widespread use on cancer patients since 2017, the treatment provided by many hospitals and other cancer treatment facilities generally have not been covered by insurance. With this in mind, Paxman has continued to offer its buy and bill business model to improve scalp cooling access for all cancer patients living in the U.S. and remove the financial disparities that come with affording the treatment. The buy and bill business model is a key component of Paxman’s reimbursement and business strategies, which allows facilities to bill insurance, and this is significant, especially as most healthcare professionals (33%) said almost half of their patients today would consider or utilize scalp cooling if it was covered under an insurance program. In fact, over a quarter of physicians (26.7%) believe supportive insurance reimbursement policies will drive widespread implementation of scalp cooling in healthcare.
Even more so, HairToStay, the first and only national nonprofit organization dedicated to helping low-income cancer patients afford scalp cooling, awarded nearly 1,200 subsidies in 2023 alone to patients, emphasizing the need for more funding for the vast majority of patients. As a Qualified Scalp Cooling Supplier of HairToStay, Paxman continues to work alongside the organization in providing greater access to scalp cooling, as 66% of survey respondents have observed a noticeable impact on patient satisfaction or retention due to the availability of scalp cooling services.
“Healthcare professionals understand scalp cooling is not only about helping cancer patients prevent hair loss during chemotherapy, but keep their sense of normalcy, confidence and self-esteem throughout the entire treatment journey,” said Karin Buck, Vice President of Paxman. “However, more work is needed on the insurance front to provide access to patients and implement the systems and we continue to work with our facility partners in pushing that conversation every single day. At Paxman, we remain committed to having scalp cooling become standard practice in oncology care and we are proud that many healthcare professionals across the U.S acknowledge this as well.”
For more information on how Paxman is supporting cancer patients with access to this treatment and facilities with scalp cooling system implementation, please visit www.paxmanscalpcooling.com/access-support/us-access-and-support/ or contact [email protected].
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