National costs and resource requirements of external beam radiotherapy: A time-driven activity-based costing model from the ESTRO-HERO project.

National costs and resource requirements of external beam radiotherapy: A time-driven activity-based costing model from the ESTRO-HERO project. Radiother Oncol. 2019 Jul 15;138:187-194 Authors: Defourny N, Perrier L, Borras JM, Coffey M, Corral J, Hoozée S, Loon JV, Grau C, Lievens Y Abstract BACKGROUND: The Health Economics in Radiation Oncology (ESTRO-HERO) project aims to provide a knowledge base for health economics in European radiotherapy. A cost-accounting model, providing data on national resource requirements and costs of external beam radiotherapy (EBRT), was developed. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Time-driven activity-based costing (TD-ABC) was applied from the healthcare provider perspective at national level. TD-ABC allocates resource costs to treatment courses through the activities performed, based on time estimates. RESULTS: The model is structured in three layers. The central layer, EBRT-Core, accounts for EBRT care-pathway activities and follows TD-ABC allocation principles. Activities supporting radiation oncology (RO) (RO-Support) and multidisciplinary oncology (Beyond-EBRT) follow standard allocation principles. To demonstrate the model's capabilities, a dataset was constructed for the hypothetical country Europalia, based on published evidence on resources and treatments, whereas time estimates were expert opinions. Applying the TD-ABC model to this example, treatment delivery activities represent 68....
Source: Radiotherapy and Oncology : journal of the European Society for Therapeutic Radiology and Oncology - Category: Radiology Authors: Tags: Radiother Oncol Source Type: research