Healthcare Resource Utilization and Cost of Care in Patients With Periocular Basal Cell Carcinoma: A Real-World Study: Economic Burden of Periocular Basal Cell Carcinoma.

PURPOSE To date, there are no studies on healthcare resource utilization (HRU) and costs for treating periocular basal cell carcinoma (pBCC). We investigated real-world HRU and costs of patients with limited vs extensive pBCC. DESIGN Retrospective cost analysis. METHODS Administrative claims database was mined for BCC-related claims from January 2011 to December 2018. Patients had ≥1 inpatient or ≥2 outpatient non-diagnostic claims for pBCC ≥30 days apart, ≥6 months of continuous enrollment in a health plan before the index date, and ≥18 months of continuous enrollment after the index date. Patients were categorized by disease severity (limited or extensive) using procedural terminology codes. A total of 1,368 patients were propensity matched 1:1 for limited and extensive pBCC (n=684 each). Outcomes were cost and HRU measures during the 18-month follow-up period. RESULTS Patients with extensive disease had a higher number of outpatient visits (32.47 vs 28.81; P<.0001), radiation therapies (0.53 vs 0.17; P=.001), surgeries (1.82 vs 1.24; P<.001), days between first and last surgery (40.82 vs 16.51 days; P<.001), outpatient pBCC claims (3.89 vs 3.38; P<.001), and days between pBCC claims (170.43 vs 144.01 days; P<.001). Patients with extensive disease incurred higher total all-cause costs ($36,986.10 vs $31,893.13; P=.02), outpatient costs ($20,450.26 vs $16,885.87; P=.005), radiation therapy costs ($314.28 vs $89.81; P=.01), and surgery costs ($3,697.08 vs $2,585.80; P<.001) than patients with limited disease. CONCLUSIONS Patients with extensive pBCC incurred higher costs, greater HRU, and longer time between first and last surgery vs patients with limited pBCC. Early diagnosis and early treatment of pBCC have economic benefits.