POTSDAM -- Canton-Potsdam Hospital’s Center for Cancer Care staffers say that chemotherapy treatments for Medicare patients remain largely unaffected by the sequester budget cuts.

Under the cuts, drugs that are covered under seniors’ Medicare Part B plans are not affected, but chemotherapy drugs must be administered in a practitioner’s office or hospital setting.

The cuts do drastically reduce the amount reimbursed to physicians who administer chemotherapy drugs in their offices because the cuts impact office-based procedures.

“Medicare-eligible patients who are receiving chemotherapy treatment in a hospital setting are not directly affected,” says Frank Torti, director of the Center for Cancer Care. “While it does not affect our patients directly, it means that some cancer patients in other areas of the country may not receive care,” he says.

“Some practice-based Medicare patients are having to switch their care to an outpatient hospital setting; their care is being transferred,” says Torti, citing a survey conducted among cancer centers and practices by the Community Oncology Alliance.

“So far, our Center has not seen a rise in Medicare-eligible patients being transferred from office-based care,” Torti says.

St. Lawrence County residents experience higher rates of certain cancers than the rest of the state and the nation, and a higher proportion of the population are eligible for Medicare coverage than elsewhere, according to Torti.

More information is available at www.cphospital.org or 261-5890.