[Compared medical costs of treating ovarian cancer patients with weekly paclitaxel, carboplatin (TC) chemotherapy].

ABSTRACT

In order to see how the medical costs will change when the DPC (Diagnosis Procedure Combination) is implemented, the team calculated possible fees on DPC for patients who received weekly TC chemotherapy between October and December 2004 at the university gynecology department, and compared them with fees calculated by the piece-rate system. The team also simulated the cost difference between inpatients and outpatients, on the assumption that the same patients received chemotherapy as outpatients. The study has found that the hospital would pay 114,098 points worth of costs for the 18 patients (average age, 51.9), when the fees are requested on a DPC basis. It was also found that the fees for the same patients would be reduced by 53,617 points, if they were treated as outpatients. The study shows that, when the patients are physically fit for outpatient visits for weekly TJ chemotherapy, this approach, compared to an inpatient-basis, would be beneficial for both the hospital and patients.