Patient–Provider Discussion About Cancer Treatment Costs and Out-of-Pocket Spending: Implications for Shared Decision Making in Cancer Care

Drug costs and out-of-pocket spending in cancer clinical trials.

OBJECTIVE To estimate the effect of clinical trial participation on drug utilization, drug costs, and out-of-pocket expenditures for cancer patients. METHODS The study used a national probability sample of patients participating in cancer clinical trials and a matched cohort of patients not enrolled in trials but receiving treatment for the same cancers from the same providers. Subjects were ...

Physicians' attitudes about shared decision making for prostate cancer screening.

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES Shared decision making (SDM) for prostate cancer screening (PCS) is recommended for physicians and patients due to the uncertainty regarding the risks and benefits of screening. METHODS We assessed primary care physicians' attitudes and specific factors that may influence the SDM process, including level of training and practice setting. Participants included academi...

Out-of-pocket medical spending for care of chronic conditions.

We examined out-of-pocket medical spending by persons with and without chronic conditions using data from the 1996 Medical Expenditure Panel Survey (MEPS). Our results show that mean out-of-pocket spending increased with the number of chronic conditions. The level of this spending also varied by age and insurance coverage, among other characteristics. Out-of-pocket spending for prescription dru...

Medicare Beneficiaries’ Out-of-Pocket Spending for Health Care

Medicare beneficiaries spent a median of $3,324 a year of their own money on health care in 2010. Ten percent of beneficiaries—almost 5 million people—spent more than $8,030. Half of all Medicare beneficiaries spent at least 16.4 percent of their income on health care. The burden of health care costs was particularly heavy for the sickest and oldest beneficiaries as well as for near-poor benefi...

Out-of-pocket health care costs.