Three Ways to Make Cancer Care More Affordable
Hospitalization, imaging, and drug costs could be targeted.
The malady of rising medical costs is acute, especially in the field of oncology. As populations age, new cancer cases are expected to reach 21.4 million in 2030, while treatment costs are projected to increase 40 percent by 2020.
Is there a remedy? In the February 14 issue of the Lancet Oncology, doctors Ronan J. Kelly and Thomas J. Smith of the Sidney Kimmel Comprehensive Cancer Center at the Johns Hopkins Medical Institutions in Baltimore suggest that costs can be contained without increasing risk to patients. We spoke with Dr. Smith.
It shouldn't be if we are all in this together. Whether we admit to that or not is another matter.
Oncologists tend to think someone else is responsible for the costs
