Medicare Spending for Breast, Prostate, Lung, and Colorectal Cancer Patients in the Year of Diagnosis and Year of Death

OBJECTIVE: To characterize spending patterns for Medicare patients with incident breast, prostate, lung, and colorectal cancer. DATA SOURCES/STUDY SETTING/STUDY DESIGN: 2007-2012 data from the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results Program linked with Medicare fee-for-service claims. DATA COLLECTION/EXTRACTION METHODS: We calculate per-patient monthly and yearly mean and median expenditures, by cancer type, stage at diagnosis, and spending category, over the years of diagnosis and death. PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: Over the year of diagnosis, mean spending was $35,849, $26,295, $55,597, and $63,063 for breast, prostate, lung, and colorectal cancer, respectively. Over the year of death, spending was similar across different cancer types and stage at diagnosis. CONCLUSIONS: Characterization of Medicare spending according to clinically meaningful categories may assist development of oncology alternative payment models and cost-effectiveness models.