Treatment decisions are based on a hierarchy of factors. Drug effectiveness is considered to be the most important, followed by toxicity, and, lastly, cost. Yet, during the Saturday, May 30, Health Services Research and Quality of Care Oral Abstract Session, discussant Peter B. Bach, MD, of Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, asked, “Why treat prices as immutable? Would we really pay an infinite amount for a microscopic benefit?” A discussion of how cost does not necessarily reflect drug value, efforts to consider cost as part of the treatment decision, and methods to set new cancer drug prices based on value were the focus of the session.

Since 1965 when Medicare was created, the introductory cost of new cancer drugs has increased 100-fold to approximately $10,000 a month (adjusted to 2014 dollars). Older drugs also contribute to soaring costs; the price of imatinib has risen from less than $100 per day in 2004 to more than $200 in 2014. Meanwhile, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) began applying a value-based payment modifier for physician groups in 2015, under which payments will be determined by the quality of patient care balanced against the cost of care.

For more details, go to: http://am.asco.org/cost-cancer-drugs-should-be-part-treatment-decisions?et_cid=36131896&et_rid=977599084&linkid=+Cost+of+Cancer+Drugs+Should+Be+Part+of+Treatment+Decisions