Comparing Cancer Care, Outcomes, and Costs Across Health Systems: Charting the Course

This monograph highlights the multiple payoffs from comparing patterns of cancer care, costs, and outcomes across health systems, both within a single country or across countries, and at a point in time or over time. The focus of comparative studies can be on the relative performance of systems in delivering quality cancer care, in controlling the cost of cancer care, or in improving outcomes, such as reducing mortality rates and improving survival. The focus also can be on comparing the effectiveness, cost, or cost-effectiveness of competing cancer prevention and control interventions within a given system or across systems, while taking into account variations in patient characteristics, disease incidence and severity, resource availability, unit costs, and other factors influencing system performance.