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Out-of-Pocket Spending for Cancer Medication, Financial Burden, and Cost Communication with Oncologists in the Last Six Months of Life in Israel

Honest communication between oncologists and patients is important in alleviating the financial burden of cancer care. This study explored patient–relative–oncologist communication regarding the affordability of out-of-pocket (OOP) medication and the extent to which this communication addresses itse...

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Autores principales: Tur-Sinai, Aviad, Bentur, Netta, Urban, Damien
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: MDPI 2021
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8465014/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/34574894
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/healthcare9091120
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author Tur-Sinai, Aviad
Bentur, Netta
Urban, Damien
author_facet Tur-Sinai, Aviad
Bentur, Netta
Urban, Damien
author_sort Tur-Sinai, Aviad
collection PubMed
description Honest communication between oncologists and patients is important in alleviating the financial burden of cancer care. This study explored patient–relative–oncologist communication regarding the affordability of out-of-pocket (OOP) medication and the extent to which this communication addresses itself to the families’ financial burden. A cross-sectional survey was conducted among primary caregivers of deceased cancer patients. About 43% of relatives said that they and/or the patients had paid out of pocket for medications during the last six months of the patient’s life. Most (73%) oncologists suggested an OOP medication without asking about financial ability, 43% hardly explained the advantages of an OOP medication, and 52% hardly explained any treatment alternatives. Older age and female gender were related to less communication about an OOP medication, and better education, greater affluence, and having private health insurance were related to more communication. About 56% of relatives said that OOP payment for medications inflicted a very heavy or heavy financial burden on patients and their households. Physicians’ interest in financial ability and giving explanation lightened the burden. Given the difficulty of explaining the complex interactions of cost and clinical outcomes, oncologists need to be better educated in skills that would enable them to communicate costs more openly and should consider the cost of a treatment when prescribing it.
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spelling pubmed-84650142021-09-27 Out-of-Pocket Spending for Cancer Medication, Financial Burden, and Cost Communication with Oncologists in the Last Six Months of Life in Israel Tur-Sinai, Aviad Bentur, Netta Urban, Damien Healthcare (Basel) Article Honest communication between oncologists and patients is important in alleviating the financial burden of cancer care. This study explored patient–relative–oncologist communication regarding the affordability of out-of-pocket (OOP) medication and the extent to which this communication addresses itself to the families’ financial burden. A cross-sectional survey was conducted among primary caregivers of deceased cancer patients. About 43% of relatives said that they and/or the patients had paid out of pocket for medications during the last six months of the patient’s life. Most (73%) oncologists suggested an OOP medication without asking about financial ability, 43% hardly explained the advantages of an OOP medication, and 52% hardly explained any treatment alternatives. Older age and female gender were related to less communication about an OOP medication, and better education, greater affluence, and having private health insurance were related to more communication. About 56% of relatives said that OOP payment for medications inflicted a very heavy or heavy financial burden on patients and their households. Physicians’ interest in financial ability and giving explanation lightened the burden. Given the difficulty of explaining the complex interactions of cost and clinical outcomes, oncologists need to be better educated in skills that would enable them to communicate costs more openly and should consider the cost of a treatment when prescribing it. MDPI 2021-08-30 /pmc/articles/PMC8465014/ /pubmed/34574894 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/healthcare9091120 Text en © 2021 by the authors. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
spellingShingle Article
Tur-Sinai, Aviad
Bentur, Netta
Urban, Damien
Out-of-Pocket Spending for Cancer Medication, Financial Burden, and Cost Communication with Oncologists in the Last Six Months of Life in Israel
title Out-of-Pocket Spending for Cancer Medication, Financial Burden, and Cost Communication with Oncologists in the Last Six Months of Life in Israel
title_full Out-of-Pocket Spending for Cancer Medication, Financial Burden, and Cost Communication with Oncologists in the Last Six Months of Life in Israel
title_fullStr Out-of-Pocket Spending for Cancer Medication, Financial Burden, and Cost Communication with Oncologists in the Last Six Months of Life in Israel
title_full_unstemmed Out-of-Pocket Spending for Cancer Medication, Financial Burden, and Cost Communication with Oncologists in the Last Six Months of Life in Israel
title_short Out-of-Pocket Spending for Cancer Medication, Financial Burden, and Cost Communication with Oncologists in the Last Six Months of Life in Israel
title_sort out-of-pocket spending for cancer medication, financial burden, and cost communication with oncologists in the last six months of life in israel
topic Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8465014/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/34574894
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/healthcare9091120
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