title: Health care economics of cancer in the elderly.
abstract: Changing economic circumstances have brought increased pressure to bear on the traditional revenue sources of oncologists. Practice standards and settings are being challenged to generate cost savings both for third-party payers and for oncology practices. Add to this the growing number of patients older than 65 years, and particularly older than 85 years, and the profession is facing a forced reconsideration of its approach to patient treatment. The current and future training of oncologists needs to incorporate both a multidisciplinary approach of cancer subspecialties and an enhanced ability to evaluate the use and cost-effectiveness of new therapies, second-line and third-line therapies, and palliative treatments.
authors.affiliation: Physician Reliance Network, Inc., Dallas, Texas 75240, USA.
authors.forename: J S
authors.initials: JS
authors.lastname: Bailes
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D006299:Health Services for the Aged / Q000191:economics* / Q000639:trends; D006801:Humans; D007349:Insurance, Health, Reimbursement / Q000191:economics / Q000639:trends; D008495:Medical Oncology / Q000191:economics; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000191:economics* / Q000628:therapy*; D010166:Palliative Care / Q000191:economics*