Economics & Value

Articles about real-world healthcare utilization and costs on Value-Based Cancer Care.
San Diego, CA—The healthcare costs of patients with advanced melanoma after ipilimumab (Yervoy) therapy are significant, according to recent study findings presented at the 2015 Academy of Managed Care Pharmacy annual meeting.
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The April 14, 2015, repeal of the sustainable growth rate (SGR) formula for physician payments under Medicare is being welcomed by the healthcare community, including the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO). The 392 to 37 vote to pass H.R. 2, called the Medicare Access and Children’s Health Insurance Program Reauthorization Act of 2015, came just in time to avoid the 21% cut in Medicare fees that would have come into effect after the most recent SGR patch expired on March 31, 2015.
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A reevaluation of the value of cancer care between 1982 and 2010 in the United States versus Western Europe (Soneji S, Yang JW. Health Aff [Millwood]. 2015;34:390-397) paints an entirely different picture from a similar analysis published in 2012 (Philipson T, et­ al. Health Aff [Millwood]. 2012;­­31:667-675). The earlier study found significant improvements in breast and prostate cancer survival in the United States relative to Western Europe, concluding that the high costs in the United States were worth it.
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Orlando, FL—Patients with urologic cancer who are readmitted after a surgery to a second hospital and not to their original hospital are more likely to have complications than patients readmitted to their original surgical hospital, according to findings presented at the 2015 Genitourinary Cancers Symposium.
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Orlando, FL—Significant cost-savings in treating patients with prostate cancer could be achieved in the US healthcare system with the use of the cell-cycle progression (CCP) gene-expression assay called Prolaris (from Myriad Genetics Laboratories), according to a poster from E. David Crawford, MD, Professor of Surgery and Radiation Oncology, University of Colorado, Aurora, and colleagues, presented at the 2015 Genitourinary Cancers Symposium.
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Orlando, FL—Patients undergoing complex oncologic procedures, such as rad­ical cystectomy, radical prostatectomy, or percutaneous nephrolithotomy, are more likely to travel outside of their regions if they have private insurance, potentially reflecting better access to care based on income, according to findings presented at the 2015 Genitourinary Cancers Symposium.
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Hollywood, FL—Sunitinib and pazopanib have long battled for supremacy in treating advanced renal-cell carcinoma (RCC). According to findings presented at the 2015 National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN) conference, the newer drug, pazopanib, may have some advantage in terms of total cost of care, but survival outcomes were exactly the same.
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At a June 2014 Institute of Medicine (IOM) workshop on patient access to oncology drugs, several cancer experts discussed various strategies on how to lower out-of-pocket (OOP) costs of oncology drugs for patients with cancer.
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