The April issue of Health Affairs contains a cluster of papers focusing on the cost and quality of cancer care. Other subjects covered in the issue: health care payment reform; the diminished number of uninsured young adults; and regulatory approval of new drugs by the FDA.
Publication of the cancer studies in the April issue was supported by Precision Health Economics and the Celgene Corporation.
Does Increased Spending On Breast Cancer Treatment Result In Improved Outcomes?
Aaron Feinstein of Yale University School of Medicine’s Cancer Outcomes, Public Policy, and Effectiveness Research Center and coauthors compared care costs and survival rates among women ages 67–94 diagnosed with stage II or III breast cancer during two time periods, 1994–96 and 2004–06. They found that over the course of a decade, median cancer-related costs increased from $12,335 to $17,396 among women with stage II disease, and their five-year survival rate improved from 67.8 to 72.5 percent.
For those women with stage III disease, costs increased from $18,107 to $32,598 with an accompanying five-year survival improvement from 38.5 to 51.9 percent. The cost increase was largely attributable to a substantial increase in the cost of chemotherapy and radiation therapy.
The authors note that the price society is willing to pay for an additional year of life remains controversial in the United States and suggest that more research is needed to determine how to best contain costs while continuing to advance patient care.
Read the full article here.
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