Trends in Local Therapy Utilization and Cost for Early-Stage Breast Cancer in Older Women: Implications for Payment and Policy Reform.

ABSTRACT:

Purpose

Older women with early-stage disease constitute the most rapidly growing breast cancer demographic, yet it is not known which local therapy strategies are most favored by this population in the current era. Understanding utilization trends and cost of local therapy is important for informing the design of bundled payment models as payers migrate away from fee-for-service models. We therefore used the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results Medicare database to determine patterns of care and costs for local therapy among older women with breast cancer.

Methods and materials

Treatment strategy and covariables were determined in 55,327 women age ≥66 with Tis-T2N0-1M0 breast cancer who underwent local therapy between 2000 and 2008. Trends in local therapy were charac

SUBMITTER: Shirvani SM 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4851917 | biostudies-literature | 2016 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature