Incorporating Future Medical Costs: Impact on Cost-Effectiveness Analysis in Cancer Patients

A recent article by Michelle Tew, Associate Professor Kim Dalziel and Professor Philip Clarke at the Centre for Health Policy has been published in PharmacoEconomics.

The article highlighted that the inclusion of future medical costs can result in markedly different cost-effectiveness results, leading to higher ICERs in a cancer population, with possible implications for funding decisions. There is considerable heterogeneity in the ICERs across different cancer types and the type of future costs included do not impact all cancers consistently.

The study demonstrated the impact of incorporating future medical costs through an economic evaluation of a sepsis intervention in cancer patients by comparing scenarios reflecting the extent of costs included in the analysis. The scenarios were: (1) intervention-related costs (no future medical cost), (2) lifetime cancer costs and (3) all future healthcare costs. The implications of incorporating future costs across different cancer types were also assessed using specific cancer costs and mortality inputs.

Further details and access to the article can be found here.