Addressing value in surgical oncology: Why and how

Value, or outcome per cost, is increasingly emphasized in the current health care climate. With more sophisticated and expensive therapies available, treating a population with growing longevity, sustainability of current trends in health care spending is a significant challenge. And all too often, our devices and therapies are implemented without understanding the value that they offer; policy solutions for these issues are lagging. Certainly, cancer patients, in particular, are at the center of these value conundrums. A majority of patients with malignancy are elderly, with accumulated co-morbidities, and are disproportionately costly. To address these contemporary issues, we must first identify opportunities to maximize value through improved outcomes and/or decreased costs. Doing so in the setting of evolving delivery and payment models will provide providers, health systems and insurers an opportunity to flourish with demonstration of high quality, low cost care. J. Surg. Oncol. 2016;114:263-267. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.