Trends in Medicare payments within the first year of cervical cancer diagnosis, 2010-2019

Assessing Medicare payment trends for cervical cancer care is important to mitigate the financial impact on Medicare. This multiyear cross-sectional study included 65 years and older cervical cancer patients in SEER registries diagnosed between 2010 and 2019 who had continuous Part A and B Medicare coverage at least 6 months before diagnosis and at least within the first year of diagnosis and were not enrolled in any Health Maintenance Organization (HMO) in this duration. The main outcomes were trends in total and service-specific mean monthly Medicare payments within the first year of a cervical cancer diagnosis. This study included 2147 cervical cancer patients. The mean Medicare payments increased from $8300 in 2010 to $8520 in 2019, largely driven by a statistically significant increase in outpatient services costs, from $1361 to $2056 (AAPC = 5.45, 95% CI = 1.38 to 9.67, P = .008). These findings highlight the need for policy actions to mitigate cervical-cancer-related financial impact on Medicare.