Comprehensive Cancer Control Plan for Michigan, 2009-2015 Maintenance Projects: Clinical Cost Database
Goal: Monitor for changes in the feasibility of developing a linked economic and clinical database and infrastructure necessary to support data-driven decisions for control of breast, cervical, colorectal, lung, prostate, and other cancers within the state of Michigan.
Background: In order to distribute limited cancer control resources in the most efficient manner, we must first understand the relative costs and health outcomes for treatment, prevention and screening. Although many of the resources allocated to cancer control and health outcomes in Michigan are tracked, few are located within one database. The existing clinical cost database created by staff at the Michigan Department of Community Health, Michigan State University, and Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan provides an attempt to demonstrate the utility of merging the necessary information about risk factors, preventive measures, and treatments of cancer to allow policy makers to consider both cost and outcomes.
The fact that there currently is no single, centralized statewide database that contains both economic and clinical data for breast, cervical, colorectal, lung, prostate, and other cancers creates a gap that is not easily filled. It means that important information, such as the cost of serving uninsured and insured individuals and the economic impact of failing to provide comprehensive cancer care, is not available to practitioners, health systems, policymakers, and others who may need it.
These issues may be addressed by the expansion and establishment of a centralized accessible statewide database that would provide accurate information in a concise manner and give researchers and policymakers the tools they need to display clearly to providers and to the public the trends affecting cancer treatment. Such a database also would provide policymakers with the tools they need to advocate for policy changes that address those new trends by enabling them to more clearly articulate the reasoning behind the recommended policy changes, as well as the benefits of implementing those changes. This could include such vital issues as improved access to treatment and greater awareness of risk factors.
A centralized, statewide economic and clinical cancer database would also enable investigators to explore the cost of cancer patient care by relating cost of care to stage at diagnosis and treatment outcome. Likewise, such a database would allow researchers to study the inter-association between socioeconomic data, health status, and health care cost, including how they relate to incidence and stage at diagnosis.
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