Purpose: Oncology practices are experiencing increasing economic pressures as costs rise, the number of patients needing services increases, and reimbursements from payers remain flat or decrease. Many practices have responded to these challenges by examining business processes and making changes to improve efficiency and decrease costs. Benchmarking is a valuable tool for such practice improvement. This article presents results from the 2009 National Practice Benchmark. Methods: Oncology practices were invited to participate in an online benchmarking survey. Two hundred eight practices from 41 states responded to the survey, and demographic, operational, and financial data were collected for calendar year 2008 or the most recent fiscal year. Results: Data from 2008 were compared with previously collected 2007 data. The 2008 data show fewer small practices (with one to three full-time equivalent physicians) reporting and fewer sites of clinical service per practice. The most compelling data presented show that total practice expense increased 15% from 2007 to 2008, whereas total collected revenue increased by only 6%. Clearly there are fewer dollars available to support clinical operations. Conclusion: These results highlight some of the challenges faced by oncology practices today. Some practices have responded to these challenges by cutting costs ( and sometimes eliminating services) and improving efficiency. For many practices, continued business management improvements will be necessary to provide adequate compensation for physician partners to warrant acceptance of the business risks associated with practice ownership and operation. In practices in which these improvements do not materialize, physicians will either close their practices and exit the field or seek other practice arrangements to continue to provide oncology services at less personal risk.
