Employer cancer care benefits: the state of the market

Oncology benefits for the employer market is a critical topic in healthcare that has been historically under-researched. To meet this need, PwC conducted primary research with US benefits managers to better understand challenges and forward-looking priorities for cancer care for employees.

Even as employers are expanding access to oncology benefits, they’re realizing their employees face challenges in coordinating care across fragmented service vendors and providers. While some legacy health plans provide oncology solutions, these have fallen short of delivering the desired cost savings, member experience and health outcomes.

Oncology Centers of Excellence (CoE) programs are relatively new in the market, and offer the potential to provide greater value in employers’ benefits and help overcome the difficulties patients and their families face regarding integration, ease of use and results. Upon diagnosis, a CoE program coordinator can take over all aspects of a member's care, including care navigation.   

CoEs are expected to grow, as employers looking to take bold action to meaningfully reduce costs and improve outcomes work to evaluate and innovate their oncology portfolios. To learn more about the research, funded by Carrum Health, download the report covering the challenges, current state and potential solutions for managing oncology care.