Medicare coverage cuts cause prostate cancer treatments to plummet

Medicare coverage cuts cause prostate cancer treatments to plummet

Medicare coverage cuts have caused a noticeable drop in the number of low-risk prostate cancer treatments using androgen suppression therapy, according to a survey published today in the online edition of the Journal of the National Cancer Institute. Those with advanced stage prostate cancer received the same number of treatments in spite the cuts.

The decline in Medicare coverage may have brought down the trend of overtreating patients with low-risk prostate cancer. In the decade from 1991 to 1999, the use of androgen suppression therapy for all types of prostate cancer have tripled even though it was never been proven to increase survival rates in men with low-risk cases. The use of this therapy for low-risk prostate cancer dropped 40 percent in 2004-2005, when Medicare decided to reduce reimbursements to doctors for this type of treatment by 64 percent. The number of treatments received by those with metastatic prostate cancer was unchanged.

Researchers led by Dr. Sean P. Elliott at the University of Minnesota also considered other factors that could explain the drop in the prostate cancer treatment, like increased awareness of patients about side effects or the growing utilization of treatments which were effective for much longer. But Dr. Ellliott and his team wrote in a news release that the reduction of androgen therapy use for low-risk prostate cancer cases “likely represents a real effect of reimbursement change and not physician awareness of clinical evidence.” Hormone therapy for low-risk prostate cancer patients may further decline if additional changes are introduced in Medicare coverage.

Posted by George Daniels on Sunday December 05 2010, 10:11 PM EST. Ref: Health Day. All trademarks acknowledged. Filed under Featured News, Health. Comments and Trackbacks closed. Follow responses: RSS 2.0