Article Text
Abstract
Introduction Ovarian cancer ranks as the 10th most common cancer in the Philippines. There are nearly 300,000 new cases in 2018. Although it ranks 8th in the causes of cancer deaths globally, there are limited published data on the cost of treatment in the country. This study determines the cost of surgery among pre-operatively assessed ovarian cancer patients of different social service classifications who underwent complete staging surgery at a tertiary hospital from January 2020 to March 2023.
Methods A retrospective design to provide baseline data on the cost of ovarian cancer surgery extracted from already existing data from the medical records, cashier and billing sections. Using frequency and percentage, the socio-demographic profile are examined. Mean, Cramer’s V correlation coefficient and chi-square tests are used to measure relationship between the total health care (and out-of-pocket costs) and the social service classification.
Results The majority of the patients are aged 50-59 years, obese, nulligravid, and no comorbidities. The estimated total hospital cost of care within the 3 years considered is 134, 431,16 Php. Among the five factors, an average professional fee of 57, 828.85 Php per patient takes a large proportion (43.02%) of the estimated total hospital cost. PhilHealth resources in the total hospital cost per patient is 42, 130.74, which means that a single patient is to pay 62, 629.64 Php as out-of-pocket.
Conclusion/Implications The average total cost of care is 134, 431.16 php. Patients bear an average of 62,629.62 php as out-of-pocket expenses.