Evaluating treatments and corresponding costs of prostate cancer patients treated within an inpatient or hospital-based outpatient setting

Aim: To describe treatments and cost of care for prostate cancer (PCa) in hospital-based outpatient and inpatient settings. Methods: Hospital encounters associated with PCa (ICD-9 codes 185, 233.4) and PCa-related treatment in a hospital claims database were included. Results: There were 211,440 encounters for PCa between January 2006 and December 2010 (88,151 inpatient and 123,289 outpatient). Average cost per inpatient stay was US$12,286 versus US$4364 per outpatient visit. Most common treatment during an inpatient stay and outpatient visit was surgery (57%) and radiation (76%), respectively. A total of 80% of outpatient visits and 69.9% inpatient stays were associated with a single treatment; remaining encounters were associated with ≥2 treatments. Conclusion: Costs are consistent with previous estimates; however, multimodal therapy is an emerging trend that may be related to greater costs in the future which may also be a challenge for hospital decision makers.