Comparing childhood cancer care costs in two Canadian provinces

Background — Cancer in children presents unique issues for diagnosis, treatment and survivorship care. Phase-specific comparative cost estimates are important for informing healthcare planning.

Objectives — The aim of this paper is to compare direct medical costs of childhood cancer by phase of care in British Columbia (BC) and Ontario (ON).

Methods — For cancer patients diagnosed at <15 years of age and propensity-score-matched non-cancer controls, we applied standard costing methodology using population-based healthcare administrative data to estimate and compare phase-based costs by province.

Results — Phase-specific cancer-attributable costs were 2%–39% higher for ON than for BC. Leukemia pre-diagnosis costs and annual lymphoma continuing care costs were >50% higher in ON. Phase-specific in-patient hospital costs (the major cost category) represented 63%–82% of ON costs, versus 43%–73% of BC costs. Phase-specific diagnostic tests and procedures accounted for 1.0%–3.4% of ON costs and 2.8%–13.0% of BC costs.

Conclusions — There are substantial cost differences between these two Canadian provinces, BC and ON, possibly identifying opportunities for healthcare planning improvement.