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FRIDAY, Oct. 18, 2019 (HealthDay News) — For patients with metastatic breast cancer (MBC), receipt of National Comprehensive Cancer Network Guideline-discordant care is associated with higher patient cost responsibility, according to a study published in the October issue of the Journal of the National Comprehensive Cancer Network<\/i>.<\/p>\n
Courtney P. Williams, M.P.H., from the University of Alabama at Birmingham, and colleagues conducted a retrospective cohort study using data from the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results-Medicare linked database from 2000 through 2013. Guideline discordance was assessed for first-line antineoplastic treatment. In women with MBC, patient cost responsibility (deductibles, coinsurance, and copayments) was summed for all medical care received in the year following diagnosis.<\/p>\n
The researchers found that 17.6 percent of 3,709 patients with MBC surviving at least one year postdiagnosis received guideline-discordant treatment. In the year postdiagnosis, median cost responsibility was $7,421 and $5,171 for patients receiving guideline-discordant and guideline-concordant care, respectively. In the first year from the index diagnosis date, guideline-discordant treatment was significantly associated with $1,841 higher patient costs compared with guideline-concordant care in adjusted models. There was variation in patient cost responsibility based on category of guideline discordance, with the highest cost responsibility seen for patients receiving nonapproved bevacizumab (\u03b2 = $3,330).<\/p>\n
“Our work can inform efforts to improve patient-clinician communication about the value of guideline-based care and the potential implications of financial burden associated with cancer treatments,” the authors write.<\/p>\n
One author disclosed financial ties to the pharmaceutical industry.<\/p>\n