Cancer top killer by 2010

Cancer will overtake heart disease as the world’s top killer by 2010, which translates into double global cancer cases and deaths by 2030, according to a report by the World Health Organization. Rising tobacco use in developing countries is believed to be a big reason for this.

Managed care organizations need to offer targeted education and outreach activities that provide patient and provider incentive programs that will help to engage the population at a more individual and personal level, according to experts.

“Patients are living longer with cancer, and this is driving the need for the medical industry to develop care initiatives tailored to cancer treatment,” says Lori Donovan, RN, BSN, director of clinical operations for Casenet, a Bedford, Mass.-based provider of care management software.

According to Donovan, patient incentive programs are motivators for positive change and maintenance of healthy lifestyles such as:

• Offering incentives for participation in smoking cessation program (i.e., gift cards or monetary rewards);

• Offering gym memberships to promote fitness and continued membership based on sustained use of the gym; or

• Offering gift card rewards for screenings such as mammograms, colonscopies, etc.

“Provider incentives offer rewards to motivate providers to perform or refer patients for services,” Donovan says.

“Rewards can be monetary or non-monetary such as increased provider payment rates and removal of prior authorization requirements or continuing education based on patients obtaining yearly screenings [breast, colorectal, cervical], follow-up appointments or provider referrals to programs such as smoking cessation.”