Costs of routine skin cancer screening in Germany: a claims data analysis

TY - JOUR

T1 - Costs of routine skin cancer screening in Germany: a claims data analysis

AU - Krensel, Magdalene

AU - Andrees, Valerie

AU - Mohr, Nicole

AU - Hischke, Sandra

PY - 2021/6/16

Y1 - 2021/6/16

N2 - BackgroundIn 2008, a routine skin cancer screening (rSCS) programme was implemented in Germany. Since then, its medical and economical effects have been evaluated and critically discussed.AimTo compare costs for patients diagnosed with skin cancer with preceding rSCS vs. those diagnosed without rSCS.MethodsWe conducted a retrospective observational study using claims data from a large German health insurance company for the period 2013–2016. We applied entropy balancing, difference-in-differences estimation and generalized linear models to compare costs for patients with cancer with and without rSCS. We conducted sensitivity analyses to test for the robustness of results.ResultsIn total, 12 790 patients with skin cancer were included in the analyses, of whom 6041 were diagnosed by rSCS. Treatment costs were €467 higher for patients in the control group (without rSCS). However, the screening costs were higher. For all people covered by the health insurance company, there were additional costs of €1339–1431 per patient with skin cancer diagnosed by rSCS. Thus, total costs, including costs for treatment and screening, were €872–964 higher for patients diagnosed by rSCS.ConclusionsBased on our analysis, rSCS has the potential to reduce treatment costs; however, the screening costs exceed these savings.

AB - BackgroundIn 2008, a routine skin cancer screening (rSCS) programme was implemented in Germany. Since then, its medical and economical effects have been evaluated and critically discussed.AimTo compare costs for patients diagnosed with skin cancer with preceding rSCS vs. those diagnosed without rSCS.MethodsWe conducted a retrospective observational study using claims data from a large German health insurance company for the period 2013–2016. We applied entropy balancing, difference-in-differences estimation and generalized linear models to compare costs for patients with cancer with and without rSCS. We conducted sensitivity analyses to test for the robustness of results.ResultsIn total, 12 790 patients with skin cancer were included in the analyses, of whom 6041 were diagnosed by rSCS. Treatment costs were €467 higher for patients in the control group (without rSCS). However, the screening costs were higher. For all people covered by the health insurance company, there were additional costs of €1339–1431 per patient with skin cancer diagnosed by rSCS. Thus, total costs, including costs for treatment and screening, were €872–964 higher for patients diagnosed by rSCS.ConclusionsBased on our analysis, rSCS has the potential to reduce treatment costs; however, the screening costs exceed these savings.

U2 - 10.1111/ced.14550

DO - 10.1111/ced.14550

M3 - SCORING: Journal article

VL - 46

SP - 842

EP - 850

JO - CLIN EXP DERMATOL

JF - CLIN EXP DERMATOL

SN - 0307-6938

IS - 5

ER -