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: “Any time a patient experiences costs related to his/her cancer care, whether that’s a cost of drug, a co-pay, time off work, parking, or any of the multitude of costs that our patients face—any time those costs result in harm to the patient—that in my mind is the financial toxicity of cancer care.” Yousuf Zafar, MD, MHS, is Associate Professor of Medicine at Duke Cancer Institute. He’s also a practicing oncologist who treats patients with GI cancers. 2:22 - What is financial toxicity? 3:58 – What he means by, “We must make the invisible, visible.” 7:36 – How the Affordable Care Act impacted the financial toxicity of cancer 11:00 – On the very important findings from the “natural experiment” that’s happened with Medicaid eligibility expansion: “37 states have passed Medicaid expansion, increasing the eligibility threshold allowing more people to get coverage, while remaining states have not.” 15:02 – What’s next? What are the next questions researchers need to investigate in this area? 17:10 – How can we get together as a community to impact patient care? 21:33 – On the impact of ACS funding on his career 23:07 – His message for cancer patients and caregivers