Oncology Practice Data for Pharma and Device Sales

Oncology Has Three Different Buying Motions Happening at Once

If you're selling into oncology, you're walking into a market with the highest drug spend per patient in medicine, the most fragmented buying committees, and three completely different sites of care that operate on different rules. According to the IQVIA Institute, US oncology drug spending crossed $90 billion in 2023 and is growing at double digits. The market is enormous, and so is the amount of money wasted on sales motions that don't account for how oncology actually buys.

The three buying motions are: community oncology practices (independent and consolidated under PPMs), academic comprehensive cancer centers, and hospital-employed oncology programs. They make decisions differently. They have different formularies. They have different buying authority. And they require different data.

The Three Sites of Care

Community Oncology

Community oncology practices treat the majority of US cancer patients. Many were independent groups for decades, but consolidation has accelerated. The Community Oncology Alliance tracks ongoing closures and acquisitions. The two largest networks today are The US Oncology Network (now part of McKesson) and OneOncology, with several regional players growing fast.

Community oncology buying is influenced by GPO contracts (most flow through ION/McKesson Specialty Health), 340B participation (where applicable), and the practice's economic exposure to buy-and-bill margin. Pharma decisions involve the medical director, the practice administrator, the pharmacist (if the practice has in-house dispensing), and the lead nursing staff for infusion operations.

Data you need: practice ownership (independent, OneOncology, US Oncology, regional PPM), GPO affiliation, in-house pharmacy capability, infusion chair count, 340B status, and the primary medical director.

Academic Comprehensive Cancer Centers

The 72 NCI-designated cancer centers, including 56 designated Comprehensive Cancer Centers, set treatment standards and run a disproportionate share of clinical trials. They're the highest-leverage targets for new product launches because they shape national prescribing patterns through publications, KOL relationships, and trial participation.

Buying at academic centers is institutional. The P&T (pharmacy and therapeutics) committee approves drugs for formulary. The value analysis committee approves devices. The IRB approves research protocols. Department chairs and division chiefs influence practice patterns. Individual oncologists prescribe within institutional guidelines. Your data needs all of these roles for each target center.

Data you need: NCI designation status, department chair, division chiefs by sub-specialty, P&T committee chair, clinical trial PI roster by therapeutic area, and KOL identification for the relevant tumor types.

Hospital-Employed Oncology Programs

Hospital cancer programs sit between community oncology and academic centers. Many hospitals run accredited cancer programs (Commission on Cancer accreditation through the ACS). They have multidisciplinary tumor boards, infusion centers, and radiation oncology services. The buying committee includes the cancer service line director, the medical director of medical oncology, the medical director of radiation oncology, the chief of cancer surgery, and hospital pharmacy and supply chain.

Data you need: Commission on Cancer accreditation level, NAPBC accreditation (breast), service line director, medical directors by sub-specialty, and infusion volume.

Sub-Specialty Targeting in Oncology

Oncology has more sub-specialties than most people realize. Generic "oncologist" targeting wastes outreach.

Medical Oncology

The largest group. Approximately 13,000 medical oncologists practice in the US. They prescribe chemotherapy, targeted therapy, immunotherapy, and hormone therapy. Within medical oncology, many specialize by tumor type: breast, lung, GI, GU, GYN, hematologic malignancies, melanoma, and rare cancers. Pharma sales motions for tumor-specific drugs (e.g., a HER2-positive breast cancer drug) need to identify breast oncology focus, not just "medical oncologist."

Radiation Oncology

Approximately 5,000 radiation oncologists in the US. They run linear accelerators, proton therapy centers, brachytherapy programs, and radiosurgery (Gamma Knife, CyberKnife). Buyers for capital equipment (linacs, proton systems), planning software, immobilization devices, and brachytherapy products. Radiation oncology buying is heavily hospital-driven because the equipment is large capital, but the radiation oncologist is the primary product specifier.

Surgical Oncology

Surgeons with fellowship training in surgical oncology, breast surgical oncology, hepatobiliary surgery, gynecologic oncology, and head and neck oncology. They buy surgical instruments, ablation devices, intraoperative imaging, and increasingly, robotic systems. Most are hospital-employed.

Hematology-Oncology

Many medical oncologists are dual-boarded in hematology and treat both solid tumors and blood cancers. Hematology-specific sub-specialty includes leukemia, lymphoma, multiple myeloma, MDS, and benign hematology. Hematology drugs (CAR-T, bispecifics, BTK inhibitors) are some of the highest-value pharma products in the entire industry.

Pediatric Oncology

Pediatric oncologists treat childhood cancers and concentrate at children's hospitals and academic centers. The Children's Oncology Group coordinates most pediatric trials. Targeting pediatric oncology requires a completely separate dataset because the providers, institutions, and clinical trial infrastructure are distinct from adult oncology.

Pharma Sales Into Oncology: What Your Data Needs

For each medical oncologist in your target list, build the following:

• Tumor-type focus - which cancers does this provider primarily treat (breast, lung, GI, GU, hematologic, etc.)
• Patient panel size - estimated annual new patient volume
• Site of care - community independent, community PPM-affiliated, hospital-employed, academic
• 340B participation - relevant for drug-pricing-sensitive products
• Clinical trial participation - publication record, ClinicalTrials.gov listings, NCCN guideline involvement
• KOL status - speaker bureau participation, advisory board history, publication volume
• Prescribing patterns - if available from claims-derived sources
• Formulary access - which institutional formularies they operate under
• Infusion capability - in-office infusion vs hospital infusion center vs independent infusion center

The infusion capability question matters more than most pharma reps realize. If your drug requires infusion administration and the prescribing oncologist doesn't have in-office infusion, the patient gets sent to a hospital infusion center where the drug formulary may be different. Your sales motion has to account for both the prescriber and the site of administration.

Device Sales Into Oncology

The device side of oncology spans radiation oncology equipment, surgical instruments, infusion pumps and accessories, ostomy and wound care, port-a-caths, and increasingly, AI imaging and clinical decision support software.

For radiation oncology equipment specifically, decision-makers include: the medical director of radiation oncology, the chief medical physicist, the dosimetry lead, the radiation therapy manager, hospital biomedical engineering, supply chain, finance, and the cancer service line director. Linear accelerator purchases run $2-5M and take 12-24 months from initial conversation to installation.

For surgical oncology devices, the decision-makers are similar to other surgical specialties: the surgeon champion, the OR director, the value analysis committee, supply chain, and biomedical engineering for any capital equipment. See our guide to hospital GPO and value analysis committee data for the full motion.

Building an Oncology Target List: Practical Steps

Step 1: Pull NPI With Oncology Taxonomies

Start with: 207RH0003X (Hematology and Oncology), 207RX0202X (Medical Oncology), 2085R0202X (Radiation Oncology), and the surgical oncology taxonomies. Pull all active NPIs in your geography.

Step 2: Layer Tumor-Type Focus

Use ABIM/ABMS subspecialty data, fellowship training records, practice website content analysis, publication topics, clinical trial PI assignments, and NCCN guideline panel participation. Tumor-type focus is rarely on a single source. You build it by layering signals.

Step 3: Map Site of Care

Identify: practice ownership (independent, OneOncology, US Oncology, regional PPM, hospital-employed, academic), parent health system, and infusion capability. Cross-reference public sources like the Community Oncology Alliance practice database and Commission on Cancer accreditation lists.

Step 4: Add Institutional Data

For hospital-employed and academic providers: NCI designation, Commission on Cancer accreditation level, NAPBC accreditation, P&T committee structure, value analysis committee structure, and clinical trial volume. This is what tells you how to navigate the institution.

Step 5: Build the Decision-Maker Map

For each target practice or institution, build the contact roster for the relevant buying committee. Medical directors, service line directors, pharmacy leadership, infusion nursing leadership, supply chain, and the relevant clinical specialists. Direct contact information for each.

Mistakes Oncology Vendors Keep Making

Mistake 1: Targeting Without Tumor-Type Focus

Pitching a HER2-positive breast cancer drug to a medical oncologist who primarily treats lung cancer wastes everyone's time. Tumor-type focus filters your list to providers who actually have the patient population for your product.

Mistake 2: Ignoring Site of Care Economics

340B-participating practices, hospital infusion centers, and physician offices all have different drug acquisition costs. Your sales pitch and contracting strategy should reflect those differences. Treating all sites identically loses deals to competitors who don't.

Mistake 3: Missing the Pharmacist

Oncology pharmacists at hospitals and academic centers wield significant influence over formulary decisions. They review clinical evidence, evaluate cost-effectiveness, and present recommendations to P&T committees. If your data doesn't include oncology pharmacists at every target institution, you're missing a critical influencer.

Mistake 4: Treating Academic Centers as Single Buyers

An academic comprehensive cancer center has 50-200 oncology faculty across multiple sub-specialties, each with their own clinical trial portfolio and prescribing autonomy within institutional guidelines. Your contact strategy needs sub-specialty depth, not just "the oncology department."

What Good Oncology Data Looks Like

For each oncology provider, your database should include:

• NPI and demographics - name, credentials, NPI, practice addresses
• Sub-specialty - medical oncology, hematology-oncology, radiation oncology, surgical oncology, pediatric oncology
• Tumor-type focus - breast, lung, GI, GU, GYN, hematologic, melanoma, head/neck, etc.
• Site of care - community independent, community PPM, hospital-employed, academic
• Institutional affiliation - parent health system, NCI designation, CoC accreditation
• Clinical trial activity - PI status, ClinicalTrials.gov listings, recent publications
• Decision-maker role - medical director, service line director, department chair, division chief, KOL
• Contact data - direct email, phone, LinkedIn
• Buying committee - other influencers at the same institution

If your oncology data only has NPI and a generic "oncologist" tag, you're operating at a small fraction of what's possible. Request a sample of Provyx oncology data with full sub-specialty, tumor-type, and decision-maker mapping.