BEtter qualitY Of life by reduciNg Day Hospital access (BEYOND project) for Ovarian Cancer patients, time and costs analysis pre and post COVID-19 pandemic: a retrospective observational study

ABSTRACT

Objective. The BEYOND project aims to improve the quality of life for advanced ovarian cancer (OC) patients in the maintenance phase by reducing healthcare costs, time spent in hospitals, and the burden on patients and caregivers. Our observational retrospective study compares oral (PO) and intravenous (IV) maintenance therapies, assessing time and cost differences, enriched with pre and post-COVID-19 data analyses.
Materials and Methods. The study involved structured interviews with healthcare workers, patients, and caregivers in two Italian hospitals. Data collected included the number of hospital visits, time spent per visit, and associated costs (hospital consumables, healthcare worker time, patient productivity loss). The study compared these outcomes between PO and IV therapies and analyzed changes pre and post-COVID-19.
Results. Eighty patients (40 IV, 40 PO) were included. Results indicate significant time and cost savings with PO therapy. IV patients required more healthcare worker time per visit (0.7 hours) compared to PO patients (0.2-0.3 hours), resulting in a 61-76% reduction in hours spent and a 91-94% reduction annually. PO therapy also led to substantial cost reductions, with IV-treated patients incurring 478 euros annually compared to 31-43 euros for PO patients. This translates to a 93-95% reduction in consumable costs and a 91-94% reduction in healthcare worker costs. Post-COVID-19, similar trends persisted, with significant reductions in time and costs. PO therapy also significantly reduced patient time per visit (49-74% reduction) and social annual costs (88-94% reduction), contributing to enhanced quality of life for OC patients.
Conclusions. PO maintenance therapy significantly reduced hospital visits, healthcare worker time, and costs compared to IV therapy. These results were consistent pre and post-COVID-19. PO therapy improves patient quality of life and offers a more cost-effective approach for advanced OC treatment, providing a promising strategy to optimize healthcare resource use. Further research is needed to confirm these findings over a longer period.