The costs of diagnosing and treating skin cancer: Findings from the QSkin Study

To estimate the proportion of all healthcare expenses attributable to diagnosing and managing skin cancer in a large, population-based cohort, and identify characteristics of high users of skin cancer services.

A prospective cohort study of 40,338 Queensland residents with linked healthcare data from the Medical Benefits Scheme (MBS), Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme (PBS) and Queensland Hospital Admitted Patient Data Collection databases. We quantified the frequency of use and healthcare costs (out-of-pocket and government) for MBS services, PBS services and hospital admissions related to skin cancer.

Over an average of 8.5 years follow-up, 71% (n=28,498) of participants used 245,919 skin cancer services, costing the government approximately $43.1 million (2.4% of all health service costs). In total, 51% (n=20,548) of participants had ≥1 skin biopsy, 36% (n=14,458) had ≥1 keratinocyte cancer excision and 8% (n=3,226) had hospital admissions. Out of the total government or out-of-pocket costs for skin cancer services, 44% and 41% were for keratinocyte cancer excisions, respectively.

Services for diagnosing and treating skin cancer accounted for 2.4% of all direct health service costs in this Queensland cohort.

As skin cancer is largely preventable, investing in enhanced primary prevention efforts may mitigate these significant burdens.