GW Researcher Avi Dor, Receives $1.17 Million RO1 Grant to Explore the Distribution of Prices for Cancer Care

TheGeorge Washington University Medical Center received a $1.17 million grant over three years from the National Institutes of Health Research Project Grant Program (RO1) to help fill the gap of information on the distribution of prices for cancer care. The research will seek to inform patients, consumers, and third-party payers about the trade-offs in making health care choices on the basis of price or in terms of potential quality of care. The primary investigator on the grant is Dr. Avi Dor, professor of Health Policy and Economics in the Department of Health Policy in the School of Public Health and Health Services.

Dr. Dor noted, “This is an opportunity for us to identify the dispersion of prices, the impact of insurance on prices, and the role of outcomes aggregated to the level of hospital, by breaking down the pricing of surgical procedures for cancer treatment.” Through the grant, Dr. Dor will examine the relationship between pricing and outcomes of three procedures, including colectomy (colon resection), lung surgery (resection), and a uterine (endometrial) hysterectomy, when associated with the diagnosis of colorectal, lung, and uterine cancers.

Research in this area is significant, because it will shape not only individuals’ decisions related to their cancer treatment, but it will also help shape future policy decisions that are made in a health care setting that is constrained by escalating costs.

“We are very grateful for the support from the National Institutes of Health for this important work and have every hope that the research will lead to a clearer understanding of the correlation between the quality of care patients are receiving and the prices charged for these surgeries at hospitals across the country,” said Dr. Josef Reum, interim dean of the School of Public Health and Health Services.

About The George Washington University Medical Center

The George Washington University Medical Center is an internationally recognized interdisciplinary academic health center that has consistently provided high-quality medical care in the Washington, DC metropolitan area since 1824. The Medical Center comprises the School of Medicine and Health Sciences, the 11th oldest medical school in the country; the School of Public Health and Health Services, the only such school in the nation’s capital; GW Hospital, jointly owned and operated by a partnership between The George Washington University and a subsidiary of Universal Health Services, Inc.; and the GW Medical Faculty Associates, an independent faculty practice plan. For more information on GWUMC, visit www.gwumc.edu