The financial toxicity of cancer care
Yousuf Zafar, MD, MHS, is a physician scientist whose research is focused on the cost of cancer care, specifically the patient-level impact of the cost of cancer care and what he calls financial toxicity:\n\n\u201cAny time a patient experiences costs related to his/her cancer care, whether that\u2019s a cost of drug, a co-pay, time off work, parking, or any of the multitude of costs that our patients face\u2014any time those costs result in harm to the patient\u2014that in my mind is the financial toxicity of cancer care.\u201d\n\nYousuf Zafar, MD, MHS, is Associate Professor of Medicine at Duke Cancer Institute. He\u2019s also a practicing oncologist who treats patients with GI cancers.\n\n2:22 - What is financial toxicity?\n\n3:58 \u2013 What he means by, \u201cWe must make the invisible, visible.\u201d \n\n7:36 \u2013 How the Affordable Care Act impacted the financial toxicity of cancer \n\n11:00 \u2013 On the very important findings from the \u201cnatural experiment\u201d that\u2019s happened with Medicaid eligibility expansion: \u201c37 states have passed Medicaid expansion, increasing the eligibility threshold allowing more people to get coverage, while remaining states have not.\u201d\n\n15:02 \u2013 What\u2019s next? What are the next questions researchers need to investigate in this area?\n\n17:10 \u2013 How can we get together as a community to impact patient care?\n\n21:33 \u2013 On the impact of ACS funding on his career\n\n23:07 \u2013 His message for cancer patients and caregivers