Delayed care during the pandemic caused the number of cancer claims at local employers to decrease, but the cost per claim has gone up, according to a\u00a0study<\/a>\u00a0commissioned by the DFW Business Group on Health that dove into the claims and healthcare costs of North Texas employers.<\/p>\n When the pandemic hit in 2020, claims dropped off a cliff as healthcare facilities canceled elective procedures and patients stopped going to the doctor. It is estimated that 9.5 million cancer screenings were missed in the first months of the pandemic. But even after the pandemic abated, the DFWBGH study showed that cancer claims remained lower than before the pandemic.<\/p>\n The City of Plano employs 2.400 people ranging from clerks to police officers. The city\u2019s data showed that cancer screenings hadn\u2019t recovered since the pandemic, with nearly every category of screening measured (mammogram, colonoscopy, lung, cervical pap test, etc.) still lower than 2019 levels. As a result, the number of cancer claims for Plano also decreased during that time. But the overall costs and the cost per member went up.<\/p>\n In 2019, cancer claims cost the city of Plano more than $2.2 million. In 2020, the cost of cancer care dropped a little more than 10 percent. But in 2021, the cost of cancer care for Plano employees jumped nearly 50 percent compared to 2020. That year, the cost of cancer care was higher than in 2019, meaning the City of Plano paid just under $3 million for its employees\u2019 and their families\u2019 cancer care. The cancer cost per member followed a similar pattern, dipping 4 percent in 2020 from $19,566 per member in 2019 before bouncing up to $23,740 per member in 2021.<\/p>\n \u201cBy the end of 2021, claims were still down, but costs shot up from those claims as the severity increased,\u201d says Marianne Fazen, CEO of the DFWBGH. \u201cIt is more expensive treating cancer after covid, and this data is a real call to action.\u201d<\/p>\n The study provides local evidence for what healthcare authorities (and employer advocate groups like DFWBGH) have been saying all along\u2013that early detection is essential to improve outcomes and reduce costs. Plenty of data shows that appointments went down, but patients and payors are already seeing the negative impact of the delayed care wrought by the pandemic.<\/p>\n \u201cAs the prevalence of preventive screenings was less than ideal before the pandemic, much education and communication are essential to make up for shortfalls. Prevention will reduce the likelihood of ballooning costs in coming years,\u201d the study says.<\/p>\n Unfortunately, many employers need to do more to reverse this trend. The DFWBGH study also surveyed several employers to see how (and if) they incentivize their employees to get cancer screenings and prevent costly cancer care down the line. Most employers offered no additional incentives to receive cancer screenings, and many employers did not track screening trends amongst their employees at all.<\/p>\n
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