Regional Medicare Expenditures and Survival Among Older Women With Localized Breast Cancer.

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND: Despite evidence on large variation in breast cancer expenditures across geographic regions, there is little understanding about the association between expenditures and patient outcomes. OBJECTIVES: To examine whether Medicare beneficiaries with nonmetastatic breast cancer living in regions with higher cancer-related expenditures had better survival. RESEARCH DESIGN: A retrospective cohort study of women with localized breast cancer from the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results-Medicare linked database. Hospital referral regions (HRR) were categorized into quintiles based on risk-standardized per patient Medicare expenditures on initial phase of breast cancer care. Hierarchical generalized linear models were estimated to examine the association between patients' HRR quintile and survival. SUBJECTS: In total, 12,610 Medicare beneficiaries diagnosed with stage II-III breast cancer during 2005-2008 who underwent surgery. MEASURES: Outcome measures for our analysis were 3- and 5-year overall survival. RESULTS: Risk-standardized per patient Medicare expenditures on initial phase of breast cancer care ranged from $13,338 to $26,831 across the HRRs. Unadjusted 3- and 5-year survival varied from 66.7% to 92.2% and 50.0% to 84.0%, respectively, across the HRRs, but there was no significant association between HRR quintile and survival in bivariate analysis (P=0.08 and 0.28, respectively). After adjustment for sociodemographic and clinical characteristics, quintiles of regional cancer expenditures remained unassociated with patients' 3-year (P=0.35) and 5-year survival (P=0.20). Further analysis adjusting for treatment factors (surgery type and receipt of radiation and systemic therapy) and stratifying by cancer stage showed similar results. CONCLUSIONS: For Medicare beneficiaries with nonmetastatic breast cancer, residence in regions with higher breast cancer-related expenditures was not associated with better survival. More attention to value in breast cancer care is warranted.