Community Oncology Alliance Calls For Protecting Physician Independence And Patient Choice In New Position Statement

(MENAFN- EIN Presswire)

COA is urging policymakers to protect physicians' ability to independently manage their practices, clinical decisions with patients

Physician independence is fundamentally about protecting the relationship between patients & their doctors, as well as about making operational decisions for their individual practices.” - COA President Debra Patt, MD, PhD, MBA, FASCOWASHINGTON, DC, UNITED STATES, November 3, 2026 /EINPresswire / -- The Community Oncology Alliance (COA) is urging federal and state policymakers to protect physicians' ability to independently manage their practices and make clinical decisions with patients without interference from government agencies, insurers, hospitals, or business partners.

Physician autonomy is essential to ensuring patients receive cancer care tailored to their individual needs, details the position statement, Physician Independence & Decision Making, released today.

True physician independence requires both clinical decision-making authority and the freedom to choose the organizational and financial arrangements necessary to sustain independent practices. COA warns that policies limiting access to capital and management support will accelerate hospital consolidation, reducing patients' access to high-quality, affordable cancer care close to home.

“Physician independence is fundamentally about protecting the relationship between patients and their doctors, as well as about their independence in making operational decisions for their individual practices,” said Debra Patt, MD, PhD, MBA, FASCO, president of COA.“Preserving independent community oncology practices gives patients more choices about where and how they receive their cancer care, and policymakers should be working to protect those choices.”

Independent community oncology practices face mounting financial and operational pressures, including inadequate Medicare reimbursement, increasingly expensive cancer treatments, and substantial investments in technology, staffing, and clinical services. To meet these challenges, practices are forced to pursue different operational and management relationships, including joining together in clinically integrated groups, pursuing different sources of capital, and partnering with management services organizations to access administrative expertise, financial resources, and operational support while maintaining physician ownership and clinical independence.

“Years of inadequate Medicare reimbursement have made it increasingly difficult for independent practices to keep pace with the rising costs of delivering cancer care,” said Ted Okon, executive director of COA.“Policymakers must modernize how Medicare reimburses physicians to reflect the realities of running a community oncology practice today. At the same time, physicians should have the flexibility to access the capital and management resources needed to remain independent, rather than being pushed toward hospital ownership simply to keep their doors open.”

The statement outlines five guiding principles, including preserving physicians' choice of practice model, protecting shared physician-patient decision-making, and maintaining physician authority over operations affecting patient care. COA also supports ownership transparency and accountability across all practice models, alongside enforceable protections ensuring that physicians retain meaningful clinical and operational control.

COA urges policymakers to protect physician independence by preserving responsible financing arrangements, preventing outside interference in patient care, and addressing payment policies that threaten the viability of independent community oncology. COA is committed to developing and maintaining formal position statements on key issues that impact access to local, affordable cancer care.

Read the full COA position statement on Physician Independence & Decision Making at

Julie McDowell
Community Oncology Alliance
Visit us on social media:
LinkedIn
Facebook
YouTube
X

Legal Disclaimer:

EIN Presswire provides this news content "as is" without warranty of any kind. We do not accept any responsibility or liability for the accuracy, content, images, videos, licenses, completeness, legality, or reliability of the information contained in this article. If you have any complaints or copyright issues related to this article, kindly contact the author above.

You just read:

Community Oncology Alliance Calls for Protecting Physician Independence and Patient Choice in New Position Statement News Provided By Community Oncology Alliance November 03, 2026, 19:07 GMT Share This Article Distribution channels: Banking, Finance & Investment Industry, Healthcare & Pharmaceuticals Industry, Media, Advertising & PR

EIN Presswire's priority is author transparency. We do our best to weed out false and misleading content. The content above is the sole responsibility of the author who makes it available. If you have any complaints, kindly contact the author above.

MENAFN03112026003118003196ID1111910603