Cancer costs need to be contained

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Finding ways to curb cancer treatment costs was one the main issues on the agenda at the conference. Themed 'Quest for Quality', the conference attracted local and international healthcare professionals, oncologists and pharmaceutical companies to discuss new insights into and solutions for cancer care.

Strategy and funder relations executive at MediClinic, Roly Buys, said that South Africa does not currently have the funding models to deal with escalating health care costs.

According to Dr Ernst Marais, ICON's operations manager, the network's solution to the inevitable rising treatment costs, which are forcing medical-aid providers to cap their benefits to patients, lies not in driving costs down, "but to rather focus on reducing waste, provide clearer and more effective treatment protocols for patients and provide them with support and quality of life."

Buys and Marais agree that healthcare models need to be to be patient-centric and that healthcare entities are going to have to collaborate and communicate across multi-disciplinary platforms, in order to provide effective, quality care to a broader number of patients.

"There is much innovation and there are fancy products but no one is thinking of the patient," said Buys. There needs to be a complete 'paradigm shift' to make headway in the war against cancer. He said oncologists and their clinics would cease to exist in the next fifteen years if they do not rethink current models, which should be tailored to the needs and wants of patients.

Discovery Health CEO, Dr Jonathan Broomberg, who opened the conference, highlighted common areas where treatment is often wasted. Pricing failures, mismanagement and over-treatment were amongst a long list of areas of waste. "We need to cut waste and improve quality of care." He is well aware of the money being spent on patients who are terminally ill. "We can't justify R1.2 million rand per 2.4 months of quality of life," and urged oncologists to have an honest conversation with their patients when further expensive treatment is pointless.

According to the World Health Organisation, cancer cases worldwide are predicted to increase by 70% over the next two decades, which means that the pressure on healthcare providers is only set to increase.

"Against this backdrop it is critical that health care entities work together and buy into the philosophy of quality care for more patients," said Marais. "The ICON model is based on the integration and collaboration of oncologists and medical funders to develop clearer treatment protocols that suite the individual needs of patients, and make the most of the funds that are available to them."

ICON is a network of more than 80% of South Africa's oncologists, committed to widening access to quality cancer care across South Africa.