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[Comparative study of actual costs of radiotherapy and its value]
N Daly-Schveitzer1, S Delmas, C Bonhomme
1Département de radiothérapie oncologique et secrétariat général, centre de lutte contre le cancer Claudius-Regaud, Toulouse, France.
Purpose:
Financial costs from "Z" procedures were evaluated and compared with the amount of direct costs that are needed for the annual activity of a radiation oncology department.
Materials And Methods:
The various components, particularly staff earnings that are estimated for each procedure according to their category and working time, were cumulated for calculation of direct loads.
Results:
Comparisons between direct expenses and the total amount of Z procedures led to the following results: the global cost is the same; at analysis of therapeutic procedures, however, this apparent similarity masks some very significant gaps; valorization of Z procedures is much lower than that of the corresponding real loads, especially when therapeutic procedures are quite different from techniques that are considered as "standard"; these differences do not apply to all the components of radiation therapy procedures. In particular, medical steps would be uniformly underestimated, while irradiation per se is overestimated.
Conclusion:
The authors suggest modifications of the general objectives and items of the nomenclature of radiotherapy and brachytherapy procedures.