title: Economic benefits of establishing a National Cancer Center in Louisiana.
abstract: This paper estimates the economic benefits of establishing a National Cancer Institute-designated center in Louisiana. Estimates of direct and indirect costs of cancer were used to derive the potential benefits of a cancer center. A fully functional cancer center should be able to prevent about 6,550 deaths over the next 10-year period implying a savings of about 23,000 disability-adjusted life years. The potential revenues to be generated through new patients from neighboring states, diversion of Louisiana patients back to the state from other out-of state facilities, and the indirect benefits derived through increased economic productivity (due to life years saved) makes the establishment of the center highly cost-effective. The benefit-cost ratio of establishing a cancer center becomes 8.5, i.e., spending one million dollars in a cancer center should generate about dollars 8.5 million worth of economic benefits for the State over a 10-year time horizon.
authors.affiliation: Department of Health Systems Management, Tulane University School of Public Health, New Orleans, USA.
authors.forename: M Mahmud
authors.initials: MM
authors.lastname: Khan
authors.forename: Roy S
authors.initials: RS
authors.lastname: Weiner
authors.forename: Monika
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Sawhney
mesh_terms: D002173:Cancer Care Facilities / Q000191:economics*; D003362:Cost-Benefit Analysis; D006801:Humans; D008145:Louisiana; D009313:National Health Programs / Q000191:economics*; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000401:mortality / Q000517:prevention & control