Breaking down cancer costs: Hospital charges for patients with melanoma.

Authors

null

Henna Hundal

Stanford University School of Medicine, Palo Alto, CA

Henna Hundal , Kamil Taneja , Karan Patel , Alex Zhang , Michael Diaz , Sahas Chandragiri , Jules A. Cohen

Organizations

Stanford University School of Medicine, Palo Alto, CA, Renaissance School of Medicine at Stony Brook University, Stony Brook, NY, Cooper Medical School of Rowan University, Camden, NJ, University of Florida College of Medicine, Gainesville, FL, Stony Brook University Hospital, Stony Brook, NY

Research Funding

No funding received
None.

Background: 78,000 new melanoma cases are diagnosed every year in the US and many present to the emergency department (ED). Furthermore, the increasing cost of healthcare has been well established. However, there is little data on the annual trends of hospital charges and risk factors for a high charge for these patients. Methods: We utilized the 2006-2012 Nationwide Emergency Department Sample to analyze the charges of melanoma patients. Multivariate linear regressions were used to identify factors associated with higher ED and inpatient (IP) costs. The 20 most common primary diagnoses of these patients were included in the analysis to consider the reason to visit the ED. Charges were corrected for inflation by normalizing to the 2012 US Dollar. Results: Between 2006 and 2012, 239,956 melanoma patients presented to the ED. In this time period, melanoma patients were charged a total of $567,834,100 (95% Confidence Interval (CI): $519,399,100 - $616,269,100) in the ED. The average per-patient ED charge was $3,284 (95% CI: $3,152-$3,416). The per-patient ED charge increased from $2,309 (95% CI:$2,144-$2,476) in 2006 to $3,844 (95% CI:$3,638-$4,049) in 2012 (p < 0.001), even after correcting for inflation. In the IP setting (57.6% of melanoma patients were admitted), melanoma patients were charged a total of $5,151,730,000 (95% CI:$4,768,685,000-$5,534,776,000). The average per-patient IP charge during this time period was $38,304 (95% CI: $36,952-$39,656). Over time, the per-patient IP charge increased from $34,591 (95% CI: $32,606-$36,576) in 2006 to $41,245 (95% CI:$39,151-$43,448) in 2012 (p < 0.001), even after correcting for inflation. Table 1 shows the top 5 factors associated with higher ED and IP charges. Conclusions: The ED and IP charges associated with melanoma patients has steadily increased during this period, even after correcting for inflation. ED per-patient charges have increased by a factor of 1.7 and IP per-patient charges have increased by a factor of 1.2. Furthermore, patients that present to hospitals in the West or to a Trauma Level I center have significantly higher charges.

Factors associated with high charges.

Emergency DepartmentInpatient
Characteristicβ (95% Confidence Interval)P valueCharacteristicβ (95% Confidence Interval)P value
Chest Pain4,138 (3,612-4,663)< 0.001Coronary Artery Disease20,590 (15,151-26,029)< 0.001
Coronary Artery Disease2,519 (1,372-3,667)< 0.001Living in West19,288 (14,629-23,948)< 0.001
Syncope2,346 (1,712-2,980)< 0.001Septicemia13,399 (8,068-18,730)< 0.001
Abdominal Pain2,192 (1,858-2,527)< 0.001Secondary Malignancy11,753 (91,11-14,394)< 0.001
Living in West1,510 (907-2,114)< 0.001Presented to a Trauma Level I Hospital6,105 (917-11,293)0.021

Disclaimer

This material on this page is ©2024 American Society of Clinical Oncology, all rights reserved. Licensing available upon request. For more information, please contact licensing@asco.org

Abstract Details

Meeting

2023 ASCO Annual Meeting

Session Type

Publication Only

Session Title

Publication Only: Health Services Research and Quality Improvement

Track

Quality Care/Health Services Research

Sub Track

Value/Cost of Care

Citation

J Clin Oncol 41, 2023 (suppl 16; abstr e18921)

DOI

10.1200/JCO.2023.41.16_suppl.e18921

Abstract #

e18921

Abstract Disclosures

Similar Abstracts

First Author: Joud El Dick

First Author: Desiree Rachel Azizoddin

First Author: Winette T.A. Van Der Graaf