Time duration and health care resource use during cancer diagnoses in the United States: A large claims database analysis

Our colleagues recently participated in one of the first large-scale claims analyses to date on estimating the time to diagnosis across a range of cancer types. The recent article, published in the Journal of Managed Care Pharmacy (JMCP), found that almost 16% of patients newly diagnosed with cancer waited longer than 6 months to receive a diagnosis upon their first presentation to the healthcare system. Diagnosis times varied dramatically depending on cancer type and healthcare providers utilized a variety of resources, including imaging and laboratory tests, as part of the diagnostic process. Resource use often varied in volume and type across cancers, but generally grew as the time taken to diagnose a patient increased. This analysis supports the need for improvements, and further research is needed to understand the clinical implications of such delays in diagnosis.

Citation: Gitlin M., McGarvey N., & Shivaprakash N. (2023) Time duration and health care resource use during cancer diagnoses in the United States: A large claims database analysis. Journal of Managed Care & Specialty Pharmacy, 29(6), 659-670. https://doi.org/10.18553/jmcp.2023.29.6.659