Researchers at UCLA have released a study that puts hard numbers into the actual cost of a very common prostate condition in men over 50: benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH). More importantly, their findings suggest that the more expensive treatments have yet to illustrate better clinical outcomes than the more affordable options.
The cost of treatment for BPH at UCLA varied by 400 percent depending on the chosen course of action. For patients in whom therapeutic treatments are no longer effective, there are a range of surgical options ranging from in-office minimally invasive procedures to surgical removal of the majority of the prostate tissue.
Dr. Alan Kaplan, first author and resident physician in the UCLA Department of Urology, says the pre-operative work-up varies significantly and represents a large part of the cost differential.
"Cost can be a dirty word in medicine. People want the best health care money can buy," Kaplan said in a statement. "A poor understanding of health care costs means a lot of waste and unnecessary expenses that are borne mostly by patients. Value in health care demands high quality care at the lowest possible cost."
The researchers took a cue from a 2013 study conducted at the University of Iowa, which called over 100 hospitals to inquire on the cost of a hip replacement and discovered a wide range in estimates. For the UCLA study, however, an advanced time-driven activity-based costing strategy developed by Harvard Business School health care economists was used to calculate expenses.
The study appears in the March issue of Healthcare: The Journal of Delivery Science and Innovation.
