OA: Phase-specific and lifetime costs of (adult) cancer care in Ontario, Canada (poplation 13.8 million)

Full Text

 Costs were mainly due to hospital admissions and, to a lesser extent, physician services.

Methods

We selected all adult patients diagnosed with a primary cancer between 1997 and 2007, with valid ICD-O site and histology codes, and who survived 30 days or more after diagnosis, from the Ontario Cancer Registry (N = 394,092). Patients were linked to treatment data from Cancer Care Ontario and administrative health care databases at the Institute for Clinical and Evaluative Sciences. Net costs (i.e., cost difference between patients and matched non-cancer control subjects) were estimated by phase of care and sex, and used to estimate 5-year and lifetime costs.

Table of Contents

• Abstract
• Background
• Methods
• Results
• Discussion
• Conclusions
• Declarations
• References

In Canada, medically necessary health care is funded for all permanent residents through universal public health care insurance plans managed by provincial/territorial governments. In Ontario, residents are covered by the Ontario Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care (MOHLTC). This includes services provided in hospital and by physicians as well as other services. In many cases, once care is provided outside of hospitals, patients may be required to pay out-of-pocket for direct medical costs, such as prescription drugs or home care.