Many of us are concerned with improving the cost of care in the setting of major cancer care centers, such as those at Cleveland Clinic and Seidman Cancer Center and their network sites.
A publication from members of the National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN) on the "Value Access Cost of Cancer Care Delivery" (Nardi EA, et al. J Natl Compr Canc Netw. 2016 Jul), came about after a cancer center leadership retreat and a summit held a year ago in Washington, DC.
This paper presents many salient points about the improved outcomes at NCCN centers and the value patients experience by having comprehensive care in a care path environment.
I contributed the concept of the complexity of interests and the dynamic tension between carte delivery, and the needs and interests of comprehensive cancer centers, patients and their institutions (see Figure 1). Please have a look.
I hope this clarifies your approach to providing and documenting value in cancer care and in defining and justifying the costs of training, clinical trials, tissue collections to improve care and conduct research, and linking discovery to patent benefit and clinical investigation.
I hope this kicks-off an interesting and ongoing discussion at every level of research, patient care, government oversight, and even the Cancer Moonshot initiative.