Economic data for particle therapy: Dealing with different needs in a heterogeneous landscape

Area of Science:

• Oncology
• Health Economics
• Medical Technology Assessment

Background:

• Cancer care faces resource limitations and costly innovations.
• Particle therapy needs to demonstrate cost-utility compared to other cancer treatment modalities.
• Timely economic data is crucial for particle therapy's evolving landscape.

Purpose of the Study:

• To provide guidance on economic data collection for particle therapy.
• To tailor health economic assessment standards to particle therapy.
• To facilitate the positioning of particle therapy within competing modalities.

Main Methods:

• Describing commonly applied health economic assessment approaches.
• Tailoring these approaches to the specific needs of particle therapy.
• Discussing data collection for cost calculation, economic evaluation, and budget impact analysis.

Main Results:

• Standardized health economic data collection is essential for particle therapy.
• Key considerations include perspective, time horizons, and cost categories for costing analyses.
• The report outlines approaches for economic data compilation and analysis.

Conclusions:

• The presented data serve as guidance for economic data collection in particle therapy.
• National health system requirements necessitate adaptation of assessments.
• Standardized economic evaluation is key for particle therapy's value demonstration.