An analysis on medical expenses of multidisciplinary cancer care under health insurance

Background: Cancer has been the leading cause of death in Korea for more than 40 years. As the aging population in the country increases, this trend is expected to continue. Cancer care is also being subdivided into specialties according to the development of medical technology. This division of care has made it difficult for a single physician to set up a complete cancer treatment plan. As a result, the call for multidisciplinary care has risen. Multidisciplinary cancer care allows physicians to share opinions and choose optimal patient treatment plans across multiple specialties. In August 2014, the Ministry of Health and Welfare designated a set number of approved multidisciplinary treatments and has included them under its health insurance coverage. As a result, multidisciplinary care is rapidly increasing.Current Concepts: An analysis on cancer care was conducted from 2014 to 2018, which examined the average medical expenses, hospitalization costs, and surgery costs per person according to therapeutic modality. Findings showed that multidisciplinary care decreased the overall cost of medical care in cancer patients compared to segmented care provided by single specialty physicians.Discussion and Conclusion: This study predicted that multidisciplinary care would be effective in reducing medical expenses. Cancer patients do not need to be treated by individual subspecialty physicians when personalized care treatment plans through a multidisciplinary approach is possible. The results of this study show that the Korean government should expand health insurance premium support and coverage for multidisciplinary cancer care.