In this paper, we examine trends in provider fees charged, government expenditure on private out-of-hospital medical services, and out of pocket costs following policy changes intended to reduce government expenditure. We examine the experience of a high-need patient group: people diagnosed with...

The Extended Medicare Safety Net (EMSN) in Australia was designed to provide financial assistance to patients with high out-of-pocket (OOP) costs for medical treatment. The EMSN works on a calendar year basis. Once a patient incurs a specified amount of OOP costs, the EMSN provides additional...

Major health shocks can have far-reaching consequences on the welfare of an individual's support and emotional network. This paper investigates both long-term and short-term spillovers of a major non-communicable health shock, namely a cancer diagnosis (CD), on the health and well-being of an...

Major health shocks can have far-reaching consequences on the welfare of an individual's support and emotional network. This paper investigates both long-term and short-term spillovers of a major non-communicable health shock, namely a cancer diagnosis (CD), on the health and well- being of an...

Emerging strands of research have examined the family spillover effects of health shocks, usually focusing on labour market outcomes. However, the results have been inconclusive and there is only little evidence on the longer term consequences of health shocks or the mechanisms behind the...

Europe's Beating Cancer Plan (EBCP), adopted in February 2021, proposes actions across the four pillars of the cancer pathway, i.e. prevention, early detection, diagnosis and treatment, and quality of life of cancer patients and survivors, and three cross-cutting themes, i.e. research and...

In this annex we include the four case studies conducted for each of the four pillars of the EBCP. Each case study is based on a selection of project grants, procurement contracts and Joint Actions (JA) related to cancer funded under the EU4Health Programme. The case studies cover projects...

The European Commission Initiative on Breast Cancer offers a person-centred quality assurance scheme (the European QA scheme) alongside the European evidence-based guidelines. This initiative aims to support healthcare providers and screening programme organisers, as well as policymakers and...

The European Commission Initiative on Breast Cancer offers a person-centred quality assurance scheme (the European QA scheme) alongside the European evidence-based guidelines. This initiative aims to support healthcare providers and screening programme organisers, as well as policymakers and...

Objectives The aim of this study is to analyse the trends in technology appraisals for non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) treatments performed by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) over the last ten years. Methods A systematic search was conducted for single technology...

Different types of mathematical models can be used to forecast the development of diseases as well as associated costs and analyse the cost-effectiveness of interventions. The set of models available to assess these parameters, reach from simple independent equations to highly complex...

Background Cancer patients face a costly trade-off between medical care and basic necessities including food. This study aims to explore whether catastrophic health expenditures lead to food insecurity among older cancer survivors in the US. Methods Longitudinal study of individuals aged 50 or...

Objectives To conduct pooled estimates and comparative evaluations of safety and efficacy, alongside cost-effectiveness and value-based pricing analyses, for systemic treatments recommended by the National Comprehensive Cancer Network in refractory colorectal cancer. Methods A comprehensive...

Background Within Finland's breast cancer screening program, all women aged 50-69 are invited to biennial screening. Current European guidelines recommend screening in ages 45-49 and 70-74 conditional upon, inter alia, demonstrated context-specific cost-effectiveness. This study aims to...

To study hiring discrimination against cancer survivors, we conduct a vignette experiment in which American and British recruiters evaluate fictitious job candidates. Candidates differed by periods of non-employment in their career, including non-employment due to suffering from cancer. We study...

The Extended Medicare Safety Net (EMSN) in Australia was designed to provide financial assistance to patients with high out-of-pocket (OOP) costs for medical treatment. The EMSN works on a calendar year basis. Once a patient incurs a specified amount of OOP costs, the EMSN provides additional...

In this paper, we examine trends in provider fees charged, government expenditure on private out-of-hospital medical services, and out of pocket costs following policy changes intended to reduce government expenditure. We examine the experience of a high-need patient group: people diagnosed with...

Health equality is an important objective in public healthcare systems, and still, we see substantial socio-economic differences. Using high-quality administrative data from Upper Austria, we analyze the socio-economic gradient in mortality and healthcare utilization following a cancer...

This Policy Brief Document was developed in collaboration with researchers and experts on palliative care and through a series of workshops. It summarises the results of research projects, providing evidence on the value of palliative cancer care and ways of integrating it throughout the cancer...

This study maps measures in EU Member States and EEA EFTA States (Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway) to support those with a history of cancer to remain in and return to work (RTW). It finds that there are few legislative or policy measures at national level specifically targeted at those...

Thanks to advances in early cancer detection, effective therapies and supportive care, the prognosis for a cancer diagnosis is better than ever before. Yet, for some people with a history of cancer, obstacles persist when accessing financial services, even years after the end of their treatment....

Breast cancer is one of the most common cancers affecting women worldwide, with the number of new cases predicted to increase to over three million and the number of deaths to one million per year, by 2040. To prevent breast cancer, there is now increasing demand for personalisation of breast...

Breast cancer is one of the most common cancers affecting women worldwide, with the number of new cases predicted to increase to over three million and the number of deaths to one million per year, by 2040. To prevent breast cancer, there is now increasing demand for personalisation of breast...

Children and adolescent cancers are rare and their aetiological connection to the environmental is poorly understood. In October 2023, the European Commission hosted a workshop addressing the environmental determinants of paediatric cancer. Experts discussed the evidence linking environmental...

There are significant gaps in EU-funded research on childhood cancer and environmental determinants. Of 2,757 cancer-related projects, only 51 focus on childhood cancer, with minimal exploration of environmental links. Funding for these topics is limited and few projects address prevention or...

Recent work by Kleshnina et al. has presented a Stackelberg evolutionary game model in which the Stackelberg equilibrium strategy for the leading player corresponds to the optimal cancer treatment. We present an approach that is able to quickly and accurately solve the model presented in that work.

Three years after its adoption, Europe's Beating Cancer Plan is already making a positive impact on people's lives by boosting collaboration and forging a path towards better prevention, early detection, treatment and care as well as improving the quality of life of cancer patients and survivors.

To support the Cancer Mission, a series of focus groups were organised with citizens in six EU Member States: Bulgaria, Czechia, Finland, France, Lithuania, and Malta. Focus groups addressed cancer awareness, prevention, early detection, and screening. This study underlined the importance of...

Cancer and other non-communicable diseases (NCDs) represent a significant portion of the disease burden in Europe, much of which is preventable. Joint Action PreventNCD aims to reduce Europe's cancer and NCD burden through coordinated strategies on health determinants, focusing on effective...

Typically, a Health Technology Assessment (HTA) measures the added value of a new medicine in comparison with the best existing treatment. Patients have direct knowledge on which side effects are manageable, the impact and most relevant factors, and the qualitative meaning of quality-of-life...

The European Cancer Patient Digital Centre (ECPDC) aims at increasing the quality of life of cancer patients and survivors, which is often characterised by a lack of understanding or insufficient consideration of patient needs during and after the treatment. In 2022, the European Commission...

With Europe's Beating Cancer Plan, the European Commission is supporting effective cancer strategies that can prevent illness, save lives and reduce the impacts of cancer. This includes a Flagship Initiative to address cancers that can be prevented by vaccination, namely cancers caused by Human...

Overall, this report shows that there is much work to be done to address the increasing burden of cancer and inequalities: investing in comprehensive prevention policies and ensuring widespread reach of screening and early diagnosis will make a major dent in Europe's cancer trends in the years...

The EU is pioneering a brand-new approach to interspecialty cancer training via the INTERACT-EUROPE 100 programme. Underpinning structures for high performance multi-disciplinary team working in cancer care, the programme offers a comprehensive curriculum of learning that will be implemented in...

The OriON Joint Action aims to support the Cancer Inequalities Registry in identifying trends, disparities and inequalities in cancer prevention and care between and within European Member States and regions. This will help with target investments and interventions and ultimately lead to a...

Three years after its adoption, Europe's Beating Cancer Plan is already making a positive impact on people's lives by boosting collaboration and forging a path towards better prevention, early detection, treatment and care as well as improving the quality of life of cancer patients and survivors.

The ELISAH project aims to reduce the burden of breast cancer by acting on modifiable risk factors and involving NGOs and patient groups. This will include the study of environmental pollution, the built environment, exposure to unhealthy nutrition, lack of physical activity, and alcohol and...

Health equality is an important objective in public healthcare systems, and still, we see substantial socio-economic differences. Using high-quality administrative data from Upper Austria, we analyze the socio-economic gradient in mortality and healthcare utilization following a cancer...