Rising health care costs, including the costs of cancer care, represent a central challenge in the United States, as these costs are growing more rapidly than the overall economy. Advances in early detection, prevention, and treatment of cancer have resulted in consistently falling cancer death rates, but the national cost of cancer care is substantial and is expected to increase significantly in the coming decade due to the aging population. The average cost of treating the most common cancers has also increased, and as more expensive targeted therapies and other new technologies become the standard of care, the costs of cancer care are projected to escalate more rapidly in the near future. Despite these high costs, disparities in cancer outcomes persist.
With the goal of ensuring that patients have access to high quality, affordable cancer care, the National Cancer Policy Forum convened a public workshop, Delivering Affordable Cancer Care in the 21st Century, on October 8 and 9, 2012. The workshop included a series of presentations and panel discussions examining the causes of rising costs in cancer care and suggested potential ways to curb these costs while maintaining or improving the quality of care. The workshop facilitated a dialogue among stakeholders in oncology care to determine the potential paths forward.
Workshop Aims
The goals of the workshop included:
1) Summarize current evidence on the overuse, underuse and misuse of medical technology throughout the continuum of cancer care;
2) Identify problems in the system that could be modified, and suggest changes to address them; and
3) Discuss policy issues related to the value, cost containment, and reimbursement of cancer care as well as the economic incentives for innovation and technology diffusion in cancer care.
PLANNING COMMITTEE
Patti Ganz, University of California, Los Angeles, Workshop Co-Chair
Tina Shih, The University of Chicago, Workshop Co-Chair
Peter Bach, Memorial Sloan-Kettering
Ezekiel Emanuel, University of Pennsylvania
Tom Kean, C-Change
Scott Ramsey, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center
Lowell Schnipper, Harvard Medical School/Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center
Deborah Schrag, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute
CONFIRMED SPEAKERS AND PANELISTS
Denise Aberle, UCLA
Amy Abernethy, Duke University
Peter Bach, Memorial-Sloan Kettering
Justin Bekelman, University of Pennsylvania
Otis Brawley, American Cancer Society
Renzo Canetta, Bristol-Myers Squibb
Susan Dentzer, Health Affairs
Craig Earle, Ontario Institute for Cancer Research
Peter Eisenberg, Marin Specialty Care
Ezekiel Emanuel, University of Pennsylvania
Bob Erwin, Marti Nelson Cancer Foundation
Harvey Fineberg, Institute of Medicine
James Goodwin, University of Texas Medical Branch
Robert Green, Cancer Clinics of Excellence
Jessie Gruman, Center for Advancing Health
Jim Hu, UCLA
Barry Kramer, NCI Division of Cancer Prevention
Allen Lichter, ASCO
Mark McClellan, Brookings
Therese Mulvey, Southcoast Center for Cancer Care
Lee Newcomer, UnitedHealthcare
Jeffrey Peppercorn, Duke University
Scott Ramsey, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center
Paula Rieger, Oncology Nursing Society
Lowell Schnipper, Harvard Medical School/Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center
Joanne Schottinger, Kaiser Permanente
Deborah Schrag, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute
Veena Shankaran, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center
Jennifer Temel, Dana-Farber/Harvard Cancer Center
Robin Yabroff, NCI
To view the video recording of the presentations, please visit:
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLGTMA6QkejfgxCd2MEIDxPcTzb32H9jaQ