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Prostate cancer management costs vary by disease stage at presentation

Prostate Cancer and Prostatic Diseases volume 23, pages 564–566 (2020)Cite this article

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Prostate cancer (PCa) represents a common malignancy that is diagnosed at a variety of stages and managed via heterogeneous clinical pathways with resource-intensive treatment. PCa could be well-suited for bundled reimbursement strategies aiming to improve outcomes and decrease costs, though it is first necessary to better understand aggregate costs across episodes of care [1]. Prior studies have shown that median per-patient cost within 3 years after clinically localized PCa diagnosis is $14,453, with the majority of cost ($10,558) attributable to treatment [2].

Beyond definitive treatment cost, PCa longitudinal costs of care are influenced by variable utilization of an array of both short- and long-term health care services. This includes surveillance and diagnostic services such as cross-sectional imaging or laboratory testing. Furthermore, PCa patients may require additional treatments, including subsequent radiation therapy, surgical intervention, hormonal therapy, or chemotherapy following index treatment [3, 4]. Intensity of utilization of these services is influenced by initial stage at presentation, which is known to be highly predictive of cancer mortality and morbidity [5].

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Funding

Q-DT is supported by the Brigham Research Institute Fund to Sustain Research Excellence, the Bruce A. Beal and Robert L. Beal Surgical Fellowship, the Genentech Bio-Oncology Career Development Award from the Conquer Cancer Foundation of the American Society of Clinical Oncology (grant # 10202), a Health Services Research pilot test grant from the Defense Health Agency, the Clay Hamlin Young Investigator Award from the Prostate Cancer Foundation (grant # 16YOUN20), and an unrestricted educational grant from the Vattikuti Urology Institute.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Division of Urological Surgery and Center for Surgery and Public Health, Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA

    Tyler R. McClintock, Eugene B. Cone, Maya Marchese, Xi Chen & Quoc-Dien Trinh

  2. Harvard Business School, Boston, MA, USA

    Tyler R. McClintock

  3. Department of Radiation Oncology, Dana Farber Cancer Institute, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA

    Paul L. Nguyen

  4. Lank Center for Genitourinary Oncology, Dana Farber Cancer Institute, Boston, MA, USA

    Maxine Sun

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  1. Tyler R. McClintock
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  2. Eugene B. Cone
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Correspondence to Quoc-Dien Trinh.

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Q-DT reports consulting fees from Bayer, Astellas, and Janssen. All other authors have nothing to disclose.

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McClintock, T.R., Cone, E.B., Marchese, M. et al. Prostate cancer management costs vary by disease stage at presentation. Prostate Cancer Prostatic Dis 23, 564–566 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41391-020-0239-x

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