Economic concerns about global healthcare in lung, head and neck cancer: meeting the economic challenge of predictive, preventive and personalized medicine

The introduction of biological science into the practice of medicine was a big transforming event for the profession, leading to different new medical models such as predictive, preventive and personalized medicine. Each of them is a rapidly emerging field that helps us to determine the risk for individuals to develop specific diseases, detect the disease’s earliest onset and prevent or intervene early enough to provide maximum benefit for each patient. However, to realize this new potential, new healthcare models must be created, improved and validated. New healthcare models that are more proactive than reactive because prevention is less expensive than reactive medicine. Current knowledge about predictive, preventive and personalized medicine is already sufficient to implement this approach, but there are no effective practice models, delivery systems and appropriate reimbursement mechanisms. In the course of this review, we describe the economic components and benefits of a predictive, preventive and personalized health plan for lung as well as head and neck cancer and show how prospective care could relate to a community or group of covered individuals.