Abstract
Background. Cancer imposes a number of burdens on patients including health and finances, especially those in the lower-income group (B40). The financial expenses incurred range from medical and non-medical costs and possible loss of wages. These warrant attention by the government and with the PeKa B40 program in place, affected cancer patients are benefitting through the Completing Cancer Treatment Incentive (CCTI) & Transport Incentive (TI). This study aimed to examine the feasibility of obtaining detailed cost information among the B40 cancer patients and hypothetically assess the impact of PeKa B40 incentives.
Methodology. A cross-sectional pilot study was carried out at Hospital Kuala Lumpur between September and October 2020. This study employed a 40 sample size, as being a pilot study and used a convenience sampling technique to elicit data from cancer patients who attended the study site for treatment. Data on demographics, clinical characteristics and costs were collected from the patient 's perspective using a structured questionnaire. The costs data collected encompassing direct medical costs (i.e., hospital stay, procedures, medical items), direct non-medical costs (i.e., transportation, supplemental foods, childcare) and indirect costs (productivity loss).
Results. Obtaining detailed cost information required for the analysis was made possible. The mean total annual cost of cancer was estimated at RM7955 (US$1916) per patient per year. Direct non-medical cost accounted for 46.1%, the highest of the total mean annual cost and plays the largest role in driving patient cost. Supplemental food and transportation costs were the major contributors to the total non-medical costs. While 17.9% and 36.0% of the mean total annual cost were attributed to direct medical cost and indirect cost, respectively. The hypothetical analysis of the PeKa B40 program showed that a one-off payment of RM1,000 of CCTI may contribute around 23.58% of the annual total direct costs and a TI of up to RM500 could contribute around 58.86% of the annual transportation cost. Discussion. Estimation of the total costs of cancer-related care for the B40 cancer patients is feasible. This explains the ongoing efforts to better understand the financial burden of affected cancer patients which supports the suitability to conduct the full-scale study by including larger study populations. The estimation of the cancer-related costs borne by patients highlighted that the non-medical cost was dominant in causing financial burden. The analysis of the impact of PeKa B40 incentives has shown that the government has placed attention on reducing the heavy burden of affected B40 cancer patients, by addressing their financial needs and assistance to become part of treatment conversations.
Links
- https://apcph.cphm.my/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/APCPH2022-P-23.pdf
- https://apcph.cphm.my/wp-content/uploads/wpforms/1176-1e04940bb5d885bf8711ed1909[...]
BibTeX (Download)
@proceedings{APCPH2022-P-23,
title = {Cancer Costs Among the Lower-Income Group: Findings From a Pilot and Feasibility Study},
author = {Farhana Aminuddin and Mohd Shahri Bahari and Ainul Nadziha Mohd Hanafiah and Nur Azmiah Zainuddin and Nor Zam Azihan Mohd Hassan},
url = {https://apcph.cphm.my/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/APCPH2022-P-23.pdf
https://apcph.cphm.my/wp-content/uploads/wpforms/1176-1e04940bb5d885bf8711ed19095a89ed/APCPH_Farhana-0f4ad345deeb39a5d6c3d821dd809992.pdf},
year = {2022},
date = {2022-08-02},
urldate = {2022-08-02},
issue = {7},
abstract = {Background. Cancer imposes a number of burdens on patients including health and finances, especially those in the lower-income group (B40). The financial expenses incurred range from medical and non-medical costs and possible loss of wages. These warrant attention by the government and with the PeKa B40 program in place, affected cancer patients are benefitting through the Completing Cancer Treatment Incentive (CCTI) \& Transport Incentive (TI). This study aimed to examine the feasibility of obtaining detailed cost information among the B40 cancer patients and hypothetically assess the impact of PeKa B40 incentives.
Methodology. A cross-sectional pilot study was carried out at Hospital Kuala Lumpur between September and October 2020. This study employed a 40 sample size, as being a pilot study and used a convenience sampling technique to elicit data from cancer patients who attended the study site for treatment. Data on demographics, clinical characteristics and costs were collected from the patient 's perspective using a structured questionnaire. The costs data collected encompassing direct medical costs (i.e., hospital stay, procedures, medical items), direct non-medical costs (i.e., transportation, supplemental foods, childcare) and indirect costs (productivity loss).
Results. Obtaining detailed cost information required for the analysis was made possible. The mean total annual cost of cancer was estimated at RM7955 (US$1916) per patient per year. Direct non-medical cost accounted for 46.1%, the highest of the total mean annual cost and plays the largest role in driving patient cost. Supplemental food and transportation costs were the major contributors to the total non-medical costs. While 17.9% and 36.0% of the mean total annual cost were attributed to direct medical cost and indirect cost, respectively. The hypothetical analysis of the PeKa B40 program showed that a one-off payment of RM1,000 of CCTI may contribute around 23.58% of the annual total direct costs and a TI of up to RM500 could contribute around 58.86% of the annual transportation cost. Discussion. Estimation of the total costs of cancer-related care for the B40 cancer patients is feasible. This explains the ongoing efforts to better understand the financial burden of affected cancer patients which supports the suitability to conduct the full-scale study by including larger study populations. The estimation of the cancer-related costs borne by patients highlighted that the non-medical cost was dominant in causing financial burden. The analysis of the impact of PeKa B40 incentives has shown that the government has placed attention on reducing the heavy burden of affected B40 cancer patients, by addressing their financial needs and assistance to become part of treatment conversations.},
howpublished = {published online at https://apcph.cphm.my},
note = {Type: POSTER PRESENTATION; Organisation: Centre of Health Economics Research, Institute for Health Systems Research, National Institutes of Health (NIH); Policy and International Relations Division, Ministry of Health Malaysia; Centre of Health Policy Research, Institute for Health Systems Research, National Institutes of Health (NIH)},
keywords = {B40 cancer patients, Direct medical cost, direct non-medical cost, feasibility study, indirect cost},
pubstate = {published},
tppubtype = {proceedings}
}