Cost-Analysis of Treatment of Childhood Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia Based on UKALL Protocol

Health systems have adopted financing to enhance access to care for patients with cancer. The cost of acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) treatment is a blurred image for hospitals and third party payers. The cost of each component of the care should be analyzed to differentiate justifiable cost and to act on wasteful practices. Therefore, this is a study on the direct and indirect costs of ALL based on the United Kingdom protocol (UKALL), in pediatric ALL management in Iran. A retrospective study design was used to study children with ALL managed with UKALL protocol in specialized pediatric hospitals from 2010 - 2015. The data was collected from patients’ medical records. Total direct medical cost per patient was 8282 USD. Most of costs were from inpatient beds (3338 ± 1110 USD) and drug expenditures (2157 ± 1035 USD). The direct non-medical cost incurred by study participants was 1286.4 USD, the total indirect cost of productivity loss was 769.9. The cost of ALL management imposed huge treat on financial capability of peoples caring for children. The treats will affect the whole society and the health system of the country unless strategies are designed to contain the costs. The policy makers from the top level of the country to the service providers should be hand and glove to devise a suitable national ALL management protocol which will avert the observed alarms.