The Cost of Patient Education Materials Development: Opportunities to Identify Value and Priorities
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The Cost of Patient Education Materials Development: Opportunities to Identify Value and Priorities Janet Papadakos 1,2,3 & Diana Samoil 2 & Eleni Giannopoulos 2 & Priyanka Jain 1 & Sarah McBain 1 & Nicole Mittmann 3,4 & Tina Papadakos 1,2 & Colleen Fox 1 & Lesley Moody 2,3 & Robin McLeod 1 Accepted: 5 October 2020 # American Association for Cancer Education 2020
Abstract The study aim was to evaluate the costs associated with developing and reviewing patient education materials (pamphlets) across Ontario cancer centers. While patient education often produces a positive return on investment, limited efforts have been dedicated to optimizing the personnel, time, and capital dedicated to this feat across healthcare systems. Patient education leaders at 14 cancer centers completed a survey measure, estimating the number of hours spent developing and reviewing pamphlets and identifying the personnel involved in each procedural step. The time expended per center in each step was then combined with average salary data for the identified personnel to derive total cost estimates. Cancer centers spend on average $5672 (SD = $3180) developing (M = $4560, SD = $2620) and reviewing (M = $1112, SD = $654) one pamphlet. This cumulates to an average per annum spending of $65,401 (SD = $75,494) for pamphlet development and $19,819 (SD = $28,524) for annual pamphlet review at each cancer center. The cost and number of hours spent developing and reviewing pamphlets varied substantially between cancer centers. While the security of budgets for patient education varies across cancer centers, opportunities to optimize human capital and monetary resources should be considered. Results of the study can be used to advocate for sustainable investment into cancer education programs, improve the coordination of educational materials production and review, and ensure that resource quality and access are consistent across the province. Keywords Cancer . Patient education . Health service production . Health service financing . Cost analysis
Introduction As the leading cause of premature death and the fourth leading cause of hospital admission in Canada, cancer presents a major public health problem and a significant economic burden to the healthcare system [1]. The most recent estimate of the total cost of cancer in Canada is $4.4 billion for 2008, with the largest portion of that amount ($2.3 billion) attributable to hospital care expenditures [2]. It is estimated that approximately 225,800 new cases of cancer will occur in Canada in 2020, mostly due
* Janet Papadakos [email protected] 1
Ontario Health (Cancer Care Ontario), Toronto, Ontario, Canada
2
Princess Margaret Cancer Centre, 610 University Ave, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
3
University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
4
Sunnybrook Research Institute, Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
to aging and population growth, and that roughly 1 in 2 Canadian’s will develop cancer during their lifetime [3]. With the burden of cancer continuing to
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