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Most Common Treatment for Prostate Cancer Not Best Value
External beam radiation is the most toxic and expensive among common prostate cancer treatments over the long-term, a national registry study suggested.
Although it's one of the most common treatments for Medicare patients with prostate cancer, external beam radiation had the highest 16-year cumulative risk of serious gastrointestinal and genitourinary problems compared with surgery and brachytherapy, Jay Ciezki, MD, of the Cleveland Clinic, and colleagues found.
External beam radiation also cost twice as much as either of the other treatments when adding up initial treatment plus management of complications, he reported at a press briefing ahead of presentation at the Genitourinary Cancers Symposium here.
The average cost per patient-year was $6,412 with external radiation versus $3,206 with open prostatectomy and $2,557 for brachytherapy (P<0.0001).
Read more about this study at: http://tinyurl.com/83qzpsx
Source: MedPage Today
Hospital Participation in Medicare ACOs: No Change in Admission Practices and Spending
August 19th 2025Hospital accountable care organization (ACO) participation did not impact emergency department admission rates, length of stay, or costs, suggesting limited effectiveness in reducing spending for unplanned admissions and challenging hospital-led ACO cost-saving strategies.
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Care Quality Metrics in Medicare During COVID-19 Pandemic
August 12th 2025Medicare Advantage outperformed traditional Medicare on clinical quality measures before and during the COVID-19 pandemic; mid-pandemic, however, traditional Medicare narrowed the gap on some in-person screenings.
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