Responses by Breast and Prostate Cancer Patients to Out-Of-Pocket Costs in Newfoundland and Labrador
Open Access
- 1 June 2013
- journal article
- Published by MDPI AG in Current Oncology
- Vol. 20 (3), 158-165
- https://doi.org/10.3747/co.20.1197
Abstract
Purpose: Cancer patients face substantial care-related out-of-pocket (oop) costs that may influence treatment decisions, attitudes, and use of drug- or appointment-related cost-saving strategies. We examined the relationship between oop costs and care-related responses by patients. Methods: We surveyed 170 prostate and 131 breast cancer patients presenting at clinics or support groups, or listed on the cancer registry in Newfoundland and Labrador. Results: In the 3-month period before the survey, 18.8% of prostate and 25.2% of breast cancer patients had oop costs greater than $500. Those oop costs consumed more than 7.5% of quarterly household income for 15.9% of prostate and 19.1% of breast cancer patients. Few patients (8.8% prostate, 15.3% breast) ever adopted any drug- or appointment-related cost-saving strategy. Few patients (7.2% prostate, 9.6% breast) said oop costs influenced treatment decisions, told their physicians about their oop costs (27.0% prostate, 21.1% breast), or were aware of available financial assistance programs (27.3% prostate, 36.9% breast). Compared with patients having low or moderate oop costs (22.9% prostate, 16.7% breast, and 25.7% prostate, 58.3% breast respectively), a larger proportion of prostate (56.0%) and breast (58.3%) cancer patients with high oop costs said that those costs created stress. Among prostate cancer patients, a larger proportion of those having high oop costs (compared with low or moderate costs) used drug-related (22.2% vs. 3.3% and 9.6% respectively) and appointment-related (11.1% vs. 1.1% and 3.8% respectively) cost-saving strategies, said oop costs created an unusual amount of stress (48.0% vs. 18.4% and 10.4%), and had difficulty paying those costs (29.2% vs. 6.2% and 10.4%). Conclusions: For a small group of breast and prostate cancer patients, oop costs are high, but rarely lead to the use of care-related cost-saving strategies or influence care decisions.Keywords
This publication has 17 references indexed in Scilit:
- Out-of-Pocket Costs for Accessing Adjuvant Radiotherapy Among Canadian Women With Breast CancerJournal of Clinical Oncology, 2011
- A Comparative Analysis of Monthly Out-of-Pocket Costs for Patients with Breast Cancer as Compared with Other Common Cancers in Ontario, CanadaCurrent Oncology, 2011
- Perceptions of Health Care Providers Concerning Patient and Health Care Provider Strategies to Limit Out-of-Pocket Costs for Cancer CareCurrent Oncology, 2009
- Identifying Patients in Financial NeedClinical Journal of Oncology Nursing, 2009
- Financial and family burden associated with cancer treatment in Ontario, CanadaSupportive Care in Cancer, 2006
- Cost Considerations as Potential Barriers to Cancer TreatmentCancer Practice, 1998
- Does a centralized radiotherapy system provide adequate access to care?Journal of Clinical Oncology, 1997
- Patterns of initial management of node-negative breast cancer in two Canadian provinces. British Columbia/Ontario Working Group.1997
- Variations in breast conservation surgery for women with axillary lymph node negative breast cancer in British Columbia.1996
- VARIATION IN BREAST-CANCER SURGERY IN ONTARIO1994