Economics of cancer care

Abstract

Several major issues emerge when combining the dismal science of economics1 with the science of oncology. With rising healthcare costs yet limited resources, it becomes important to know how to factor economic considerations into the medical decision-making process. This task is made more difficult by the paucity of comparative studies of costs and outcomes (under the general term of cost-effectiveness) and quality of life; as a result, clinicians are left on their own to decide who does what to whom, at what cost, and with whose money. © 2006 Springer Science+Business Media, Inc.