Strategies to Achieve High-Value Oncology Care

Cancer care is costly for individuals and in the aggregate. In one study, insured patients with advanced cancer reported median monthly out-of-pocket treatment expenditures of $592. In the aggregate, US expenditures for cancer care were $127 billion in 2013, which was 7% of total health care expenditures. These costs are projected to be at least $158 billion in 2020. Cancer care contributed 6.5% of the growth in health expenditures from 2000 to 2013. Circulatory diseases provide an informative contrast: disability-adjusted life-years have shrunk nearly 20% from 2005 to 2010 while annual expenditures have increased 7%. For cancer, the same figures are 12% and 26%, respectively.

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