Cancer Treatment – Is It Becoming just another Commodity?

Choices in the past have been limited, but today that is not always the case. Patient advocacies have been very helpful with helping patients find the help they need. The competition is alive and well with hospitals and facilities today too. Geography is playing a major role today in how far can and will a patient travel for the care they deem they need. The educated patient is evolving and now aware that there are in fact many choices and the Internet helps in providing some of the answers. There’s also one other element added to the educated patient scenario, and that is medical tourism, so the choices are many today and research is more important today than it has ever been. BD

Health care analysts said patient demand, and a growing recognition that providing cancer treatment is profitable for hospitals, has fueled a marketplace for treatment centers. "Cancer treatment is becoming more of a commodity," an analyst at Moody's Investors Service, Pamela Federbusch, said. "Patients are getting very educated and are willing to travel to seek out physicians with a particular expertise since the more experience tends to lead to better outcomes.

Top Medical Centers Spread Well Beyond Northeast - June 9, 2008 - The New York Sun