Linda House Looks at the Cost of Cancer Care Holistically

Cost of care not only entails the expense of therapy itself but additional surrounding factors that affect the patient, including getting to and from treatment, asking for time off from work, and perhaps needing child care assistance, said Linda House, president of Cancer Support Community.

Ms House added that taking into account all of the factors a patient may be dealing with is 1 way to address the growing cost of cancer care and its associated problems, like medication or treatment nonadherence.

“We have patients who are able to have long-term survival that just because of financial challenges, may in fact be abandoning therapy,” she said.