A touchy subject: Can physicians improve value by discussing costs and clinical benefits with patients?

Oncologist

Volumn 21, Issue 10, 2016, Pages 1157-1160

  Wollins, Dana S ^a   Zafar, S Yousuf ^b  

^a AMERICAN SOCIETY OF CLINICAL ONCOLOGY   (United States)

^b DUKE CANCER INSTITUTE   (United States)

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

ARTICLE; CANCER THERAPY; COST BENEFIT ANALYSIS; COST OF ILLNESS; DOCTOR PATIENT RELATION; FINANCIAL MANAGEMENT; HEALTH CARE COST; HEALTH CARE POLICY; HEALTH CARE QUALITY; HEALTH ECONOMICS; HUMAN; INSURANCE; LAW; MEDICAL DECISION MAKING; MEDICAL SOCIETY; MOLECULARLY TARGETED THERAPY; ONCOLOGIST; PATIENT ATTITUDE; PATIENT SATISFACTION; PRIORITY JOURNAL; ADMINISTRATIVE PERSONNEL; COST; ECONOMICS; ETHICS; LEGISLATION AND JURISPRUDENCE; NEOPLASM; PATIENT CARE; PHYSICIAN; PSYCHOLOGY; TOTAL QUALITY MANAGEMENT; TRENDS;

ADMINISTRATIVE PERSONNEL; COST SHARING; HEALTH CARE COSTS; HEALTH EXPENDITURES; HEALTH POLICY; HUMANS; NEOPLASMS; PATIENT CARE; PHYSICIAN-PATIENT RELATIONS; PHYSICIANS; QUALITY IMPROVEMENT; QUALITY OF HEALTH CARE;

EID: 84991632847     PISSN: 10837159     EISSN: 1549490X     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1634/theoncologist.2016-0207     Document Type: Article

References (36)

1. Kantarjian HM, Fojo T, Mathisen M et al. Cancer drugs in the United States: Justum Pretium—the just price. J Clin Oncol 2013;31:3600–3604.
2. Bach PB. Limits on Medicare’s ability to control rising spending on cancer drugs. N Engl JMed 2009; 360:626–633.
3. Ramsey S, Blough D, Kirchhoff A et al.Washington State cancer patients found to be at greater risk for bankruptcy than people without a cancer diagnosis. Health Aff (Millwood) 2013;32:1143–1152.
4. Ramsey SD, Bansal A, Fedorenko CR et al. Financial insolvency as a risk factor for early mortality among patients with cancer. J Clin Oncol 2016;34: 980–986.
5. Zafar SY, Peppercorn JM, Schrag Detal. The financial toxicity of cancer treatment: A pilot study assessing out-of-pocket expenses and the insured cancer patient’sexperience. TheOncologist 2013;18:381–390.
6. Institute of Medicine. Delivering high-quality cancer care: Charting a new course for a system in crisis. National Academy of Sciences, 2013. Available at http://www.nap.edu/catalog.php?record_id518359. Accessed January 9, 2014.
7. Meropol NJ, Schrag D, Smith TJ et al. American Society of Clinical Oncology guidance statement: The cost of cancer care. J Clin Oncol 2009;27: 3868–3874.
8. Porter ME. What is value in health care? N Engl JMed 2010;363:2477–2481.
9. Ubel PA, Jagsi R. Promoting population health through financial stewardship. N Engl J Med 2014; 370:1280–1281.
10. Jagsi R. Debating the oncologist’s role in defining the value of cancer care: We have a duty to society. J Clin Oncol 2014;32:4035–4038.
11. Irwin B, Kimmick G, Altomare I et al. Patient experience and attitudes toward addressing the cost of breast cancer care. The Oncologist 2014;19: 1135–1140.
12. Zafar SY, Chino F, Ubel PA et al. The utility of cost discussions between patients with cancer and oncologists. Am JManag Care 2015;21:607–615.
13. Henrikson NB, Tuzzio L, Loggers ET et al. Patient and oncologist discussions about cancer care costs. Support Care Cancer 2014;22:961–967.
14. Bullock AJ, Hofstatter EW, Yushak ML et al. Understanding patients’ attitudes toward communication about the cost of cancer care. J Oncol Pract 2012;8:e50–e58.
15. Alexander GC, Casalino LP, Meltzer DO. Patientphysician communication about out-of-pocket costs. JAMA 2003;290:953–958.
16. Schmittdiel JA, Steers N, Duru OK et al. Patientprovider communication regarding drug costsin Medicare part D beneficiaries with diabetes: A triad study. BMC Health Serv Res 2010;10:164.
17. Bestvina CM, Zullig LL, Rushing C et al. Patientoncologist cost communication, financial distress, and medication adherence. J Oncol Pract 2014;10: 162–167.
18. Hunter WG, Zhang CZ, Hesson A et al. What strategies do physicians and patients discuss to reduce out-of-pocket costs? Analysis of cost-saving strategies in 1755 outpatient clinic visits. Med Decis Making 2016 [Epub ahead of print].
19. Schrag D, Hanger M. Medical oncologists’ views on communicating with patients about chemotherapy costs: A pilot survey. J Clin Oncol 2007;25: 233–237.
20. Altomare I, Irwin B, Zafar SY et al. Physician experience and attitudes toward addressing the cost of cancer care. J Oncol Pract 2016;12: 247–248.
21. Smith SK, Nicolla J, Zafar SY. Bridging the gap between financial distress and available resources for patients with cancer: A qualitative study. J Oncol Pract 2014;10:e368–e372.
22. Shankaran V, Jolly S, Blough D et al. Risk factors for financial hardship in patients receiving adjuvant chemotherapy for colon cancer: A populationbased exploratory analysis. J Clin Oncol 2012;30: 1608–1614.
23. Lathan CS, Cronin A, Tucker-Seeley R et al. Association of financial strain with symptom burden and quality of life for patients with lung or colorectal cancer. J Clin Oncol 2016;34:1732–1740.
24. Ubel PA, Zhang CJ, Hesson A et al. Study of physician and patient communication identifies missed opportunities to help reduce patients’ outof- pocket spending. Health Aff (Millwood) 2016;35: 654–661.
25. Kelly RJ, Forde PM, Elnahal SM et al. Patients and physicians can discuss costs of cancer treatment in the clinic. J Oncol Pract 2015;11:308–312.
26. de Souza JA, Yap BJ, Hlubocky FJ et al. The development of a financial toxicity patient-reported outcomein cancer:The COST measure. Cancer 2014; 120:3245–3253.
27. Ubel PA, Abernethy AP, Zafar SY. Full disclosure– out-of-pocket costs as side effects. N Engl J Med 2013;369:1484–1486.
28. Moriates C, Dohan D, Spetz J et al. Defining competencies for education in health care value: recommendations from the University of California, San Francisco Center for Healthcare Value Training Initiative. Acad Med 2015;90:421–424.
29. Whaley C, Schneider Chafen J, Pinkard S et al. Association between availability of health service prices and payments for these services. JAMA 2014; 312:1670–1676.
30. Wu SJ, Sylwestrzak G, Shah C et al. Price transparency for MRIs increased use of less costly providers and triggered provider competition. Health Aff (Millwood) 2014;33:1391–1398.
31. Schnipper LE, Davidson NE, Wollins DS et al. American Society of Clinical Oncology statement: A conceptual framework to assess the value of cancer treatment options. J Clin Oncol 2015;33: 2563–2577.
32. National Comprehensive Cancer Network. NCCN clinical practice guidelines in oncology (NCCN guidelines) with NCCN evidence blocks. 2016. Available at https://www.nccn.org/evidenceblocks/. Accessed May 16, 2016.
33. Weeks JC, Catalano PJ, Cronin A et al. Patients’ expectations about effects of chemotherapy for advanced cancer. N Engl J Med 2012;367:1616–1625.
34. Prigerson HG, Bao Y, Shah MA et al. Chemotherapy use, performance status, and quality of life at the end of life. JAMA Oncol 2015;1:778–784.
35. Davidoff AJ, Erten M, Shaffer T et al. Out-ofpocket health care expenditure burden for Medicare beneficiaries with cancer. Cancer 2013;119: 1257–1265.
36. Ramsey SD, Ganz PA, Shankaran V et al. Addressing the American health-care cost crisis: role of the oncology community. J Natl Cancer Inst 2013;105:1777–1781.