The Lewin Group and its subcontractor Westat, Inc., are conducting this survey under contract with the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services Innovation Center as part of an independent evaluation of the Enhancing Oncology Model (EOM).

For EOM-participating practices, we are reaching out to you because you were identified as a key point of contact at your oncology practice.

For oncology practices not participating in EOM, we are reaching out to you because we anticipate that you will be able to answer questions about your practice’s oncology care delivery, quality, cost, and utilization. For some questions you may need to incorporate input from other staff members at your practice. If you would like to suggest someone else in your practice respond to your survey, please call or email our Help Desk at 1-833-778-3805 or EOMevaluation@Westat.com.

Responses to this survey will help the evaluation team identify changes and patterns in oncology care delivery approaches that are drivers of changes in quality, cost, and utilization.

All EOM-participating practices are required to complete this survey under 42 CFR § 403.1110(b) and the participation agreement to cooperate with efforts to conduct an independent, federally funded evaluation of the model by CMS and/or its designees.

Oncology practices not participating in EOM are invited to participate in this voluntary survey about oncology care. Although the survey is voluntary for non-EOM practices, this study depends on hearing about the experiences of oncology practices throughout the United States to better understand care delivery and help CMS to make improvements.

For EOM-participating practices, your name and contact information was provided by CMS as a key point of contact at your oncology practice.

For practices not participating in EOM, your practice was identified as an oncology practice. Your practice’s contact information was identified through Medicare’s Provider Data Catalog or your practice’s website. We are reaching out to you because we anticipate that you will be able to answer questions about your practice’s oncology care delivery, quality, cost, and utilization. For some questions you may need to incorporate input from other staff members at your practice. If you would like to suggest someone else in your practice respond to your survey, please call or email our Help Desk at 1-833-778-3805 or EOMevaluation@Westat.com.

Yes. You can complete the survey with the help of other staff members at your practice. For example, they can sit next to you and help complete the questions, or you can send them the URL and access code and have them complete certain sections.

You can also delegate the entire survey to someone else at your practice. If you would like to do this, please call or email our Help Desk at 1-833-778-3805 or EOMevaluation@Westat.com.

We are conducting this survey with EOM-participating practices and oncology practices not participating in EOM.

The survey asks questions about care delivery approaches at your practice, including improving access to care, providing guideline-based care, pharmacy practices, financial counseling, managing high-risk patients, coordinating care, performance measurement and quality improvement, patient navigation, care planning, and value-based payment model participation. This information will help CMS understand changes in oncology care delivery over time

Responses to this survey will help the evaluation team identify changes and patterns in oncology care delivery approaches that are drivers of changes in quality, cost, and utilization. Survey data will be used for evaluation purposes only. During data analysis, we will use unique survey identifiers, not respondents’ names. Any published reports will summarize the results in the aggregate and will not include individual responses. Summarized results will be available at: https://www.cms.gov/priorities/innovation/innovation-models/enhancing-oncology-model .

All the data that are collected will be provided to CMS. While the data shared with CMS will be identifiable at the practice level, it will not identify individual survey respondents.

Please be assured that all information collected during the survey will be treated as private. The data will be stored on the evaluation team’s secure data systems and will be transferred to CMS using secure protocols. We will not tell CMS your name or how you answered any questions. Information shared with CMS will only be identifiable at the practice level. We will compile results from all survey respondents into a publicly available report that will summarize results in aggregate and will not include individual responses or contain any names or identifying information.

Oncology practices not participating in EOM that were invited to participate in this survey will be mailed a $150 gift card after completing the survey as a token of our appreciation.

There are no direct benefits to participating. Responses to this survey will help the evaluation team identify changes and patterns in oncology care delivery approaches that are drivers of changes in quality, cost, and utilization.

The Westat Institutional Review Board (IRB) reviewed and approved the oncology care changes survey. If you have any questions about your rights and welfare as a research participant, please call the Westat Human Subjects Protection Office at 1-888-920-7631. Please leave a message with your first name and a phone number including the area code. Please mention you are calling about the EOM evaluation and someone will return your call as soon as possible

You may only complete this survey online by using the website. If you have any questions about the survey, please call or email our Help Desk at 1-833-778-3805 or EOMevaluation@Westat.com.

The survey will take about an hour to complete.

While the survey is voluntary for practices not participating in EOM, the information you provide will help CMS learn about how practices deliver oncology care and changes to oncology care over time. If there are any questions that you do not want to answer, or do not feel comfortable answering, you can always choose not to answer those.

Please note that all EOM-participating practices are required to complete this survey.

If you have any questions about the study or about your rights as a study participant, you may call 1-833-778-3805. You may also confirm that this survey is legitimate by viewing project information at https://innovation.cms.gov/innovation-models/enhancing-oncology-model.