Research on Current Curative Expenditure among Lung Cancer Patients Based on the “System of Health Accounts 2011”: Insights into Influencing Factors

Purpose: To investigate the total current curative expenditure (CCE) of lung cancer in Hunan Province, China under the framework of the System of Health Accounts 2011 (SHA 2011) and explore the effect of insurance status, surgery and length of stay on the hospitalization expenses of patients with lung cancer. Methods: Through multistage stratified cluster random sampling, a total of 46,214 patients with lung cancer were enrolled from 1,072 medical institutions in Hunan Province in 2016. Under the SHA 2011 framework, the lung cancer CCE was analyzed. The relationships between hospitalization expenditure and the following factors (surgery, type of hospital, insurance status, length of stay, institution level, age and sex) were analyzed using Spearman's correlation analyses, and how these factors influenced hospital expenditure was explored through multiple stepwise regression analysis and structural equation modelling. Results: The CCE for lung cancer patients was 8063.75 million CNY. In total, 96.03% of the CCE for lung cancer occurred in hospitals and 58.88% of the expenditure flowed to general hospitals. The highest expenditures were incurred in the group aged 55-74 y, which accounted for 61.58% of the CCE. Drugs accounted for the greatest share expenditure to lung cancer patients at 34.31% of the CCE. Surgery, insurance status, institution level, sex and hospital type explained 57.5% of the variance in hospital expenses. The hospitalization expenses were related to surgery, insurance status, institution level and sex (rs = 0.033-0.688, p < 0.001). Surgery, insurance status and length of stay had direct effects on hospitalization expenses. Length of stay mediated the relationship between surgery and hospitalization expenses for lung cancer patients. Surgery mediated the relationship between insurance status and hospitalization expenses. All of these variables can explain 45% of the variance in hospitalization expenses. Conclusions: The CCE of lung cancer is extremely high. The problems related to treatment efficiency and equity are serious for lung cancer patients in China. It is essential to expand health insurance coverage and reduce the curative expenditure of lung cancer.