A group of healthcare professionals, policy makers and cancer survivors provided insight into the reasons for the high cost of cancer care and offered possible solutions to make a "radical shift in cancer policy" in a report in The Lancet Oncology.
The authors found the drivers of high costs included over-use, rapid expansion, shortening life cycles of cancer technologies and a lack of clinical research and integrated health economic studies. They identified several solutions to making cancer care more affordable, including re-engineering the macroeconomic basis of cancer costs, educating policy makers and creating an informed and transparent regulatory system.
The estimated worldwide cost of cancer due to premature death and disability in 2008, not including direct medical costs, was $895 billion, according to the report.
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The authors found the drivers of high costs included over-use, rapid expansion, shortening life cycles of cancer technologies and a lack of clinical research and integrated health economic studies. They identified several solutions to making cancer care more affordable, including re-engineering the macroeconomic basis of cancer costs, educating policy makers and creating an informed and transparent regulatory system.
The estimated worldwide cost of cancer due to premature death and disability in 2008, not including direct medical costs, was $895 billion, according to the report.
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