PCN35 - Lung Cancer Economic Burden From a Private Healthcare System Perspective In Brazil

Abstract

To evaluate the cost of lung cancer treatment in Brazil from the perspective of private hospitals and identify the major cost drivers. Orizon administrative claims database containing over 18 million lives was used to identify patients with lung cancer using the following ICD-10 codes: C34, C34.9, C34.0, C34.1, C34.3, C34.8, C34.2 between the period of November 2010 to October 2013. Only patients receiving traditional chemotherapy for their lung cancer were included in the analysis. A total of 11,348 patients were identified with lung cancer over the analysis period. The study population was 54% men, 62 years old on average, and received treatment for a mean duration of 5,5 months. Of the 11,348 patients, 3,076 were hospitalized and 8,272 received outpatient care. Forty-nine percent of those hospitalized also received outpatient care. For patients who were hospitalized, each patient had, on average, 4.63 hospitalizations with an average length of stay of 9.55 days. The average cost per patient hospitalized was BRL 34,904, with approximately 25.67% of the total hospital cost spent on drugs and the remainder spent on fees, supplies, exams and procedures (24.41%, 37.31%, 5.71% and 6.89% respectively). For outpatient care, the average cost per patient was BRL 22,746 with 87.61% of the total outpatient care cost spent on drug expenses and the remainder spent on fees, supplies, exams, and procedures (1.73%, 4.02%, 3.76% and 2.88% respectively). The economic burden of lung cancer in Brazil could be reduced especially in outpatient care if oral treatments instead of infusion-based treatments were used (e.g., avoidance of infusion-related resources such as fees, procedures and supplies), which could represent a reduction of 8.63% or BRL 1,956 per lung cancer patient.