Using clinical and economic evidence to infrom local decision making in cancer care [ 2007 - 2012 ]

Research Grant

Researchers: Prof Robyn Ward (Principal investigator) ,  A/Pr Kees Van Gool ,  A/Pr Stewart Bernard ,  Dr Matthew Links ,  Mr Neville Board
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Brief description Medicines used to treat cancer often come with a high price tag. Many countries, including Australia, are no longer able to provide free access to all medicines. For this reason, patients and their families, public hospitals and private health insurers are often asked to pay for these treatments. Currently, health professionals and patients are ill-equipped to make informed treatment choices, since both cost and efficacy must be considered. Our proposed research will address this important gap in current knowledge. We will use a unique web-based resource (Cancer Institute NSW Standard Cancer Treatment Program; CI-SCaT) to communicate the economic evidence needed to make informed decisions about cancer treatments. Our project will provide public access to information about the effectiveness and costs of cancer drugs. This is a world first. CI-SCaT is already the main vehicle of communication about cancer drug treatments in NSW and is widely used by cancer health professionals and patients to inform point-of-care decisions. Our project we will also identify the factors which influence the ability of cancer treatment centres to make best use of their drug budgets. By achieving this goal, we hope to demonstrate how to best use scarce resources for the benefit of all cancer patients.

Funding Amount $AUD 1,836,745.73

Funding Scheme NHMRC Strategic Awards

Notes Health Services Research