Health Services Research

Questions pertaining to this research category include:

• Are the clinical outcomes of a particular cancer treatment better than other treatment options?
• Do new cancer drugs, which often come with a considerable price burden compared to older drugs, offer a significant clinical advantage to patients?
• What are the costs associated with specific chemotherapy regimens that have nearly equivalent clinical outcomes?

The decision science field performs research to better understand:

• The ability of patients to make informed decisions about cancer prevention and treatment strategies.
• Ways in which barriers to understanding health care information can be ameliorated or even abolished to aid in decision making.
• The development and effectiveness of new evidence-based decision aids to guide patients as they make important health care decisions based on their preferences, beliefs, and values.  

Economics in health care research:

• Determines costs associated with cancer screening and treatment, often focusing on patient out-of-pocket costs and how they could be lowered.
• Deduces how the acquisition of new technology (e.g., robotic surgical systems) by a particular hospital influences procedure costs and profit margins at that institution; models of technology transfer can also be generated.
• Studies insurance coverage of cancer drugs and treatments and whether aspects of patient care, including drug initiation and adherence, are affected by cost burdens on patients and their families.