Economic benefits of establishing a National Cancer Center in Louisiana
Khan, M.Mahmud.; Weiner, R.S.; Sawhney, M.
Journal of the Louisiana State Medical Society Official Organ of the Louisiana State Medical Society 155(5): 248 250-4
2003
ISSN/ISBN: 0024-6921 PMID: 14748486 Document Number: 556332
This paper estimates the economic benefits of establishing a National Cancer Institute-designated center in Louisiana. Estimates of direct and indirect costs of cancer were used to derive the potential benefits of a cancer center. A fully functional cancer center should be able to prevent about 6,550 deaths over the next 10-year period implying a savings of about 23,000 disability-adjusted life years. The potential revenues to be generated through new patients from neighboring states, diversion of Louisiana patients back to the state from other out-of state facilities, and the indirect benefits derived through increased economic productivity (due to life years saved) makes the establishment of the center highly cost-effective. The benefit-cost ratio of establishing a cancer center becomes 8.5, i.e., spending one million dollars in a cancer center should generate about dollars 8.5 million worth of economic benefits for the State over a 10-year time horizon.