Mohs Surgery is usually more expensive compared to almost any other skin-cancer removal method except radiation therapy. But when one compares the expense of having the tumor return in one of five or ten patients, deforming them and requiring further surgery or time away from work, the tables turn. The following text and figures help to explain the cost-effectiveness of Mohs Surgery in general. The cost-effectiveness of any given procedure can even be enhanced by restricting use of the procedure to areas where it has an even greater edge over competing/alternative procedures. For example, recommending Mohs Surgery for a young woman with a basal-cell cancer where the eyelid joins the nose is a "no-brainer," even for doctors of limited training. In this case, the obvious cost effectiveness of using Mohs Surgery is so favorable that even the most stingy managed-care companies will cover it.

The rub comes in considering patients over sixty-five. The government and managed-care companies are gambling that, by choosing cheaper, less-effective treatments, some seniors will die or have different insurance, in the case of managed care, before the cancers noticeably return. Factors that throw the balance of cost effectiveness far in favor of Mohs may be found in the Mohs and Basal-Cell sections of this Web site and include the patient's youth and immune status, high-risk zone, infiltrating pattern, tumor size, etc.

Although the initial costs of Mohs Surgery are higher, a reasonable case can be made for its use even in areas of the body which might not seem so critical. All one has to do is to show the cost of a recurrence of a skin cancer with all of the other skin cancer treatment methods. Please note the following table:

 

Paul J. Weber, M.D., P.A. 5353 North Federal Highway, Suite 400 Fort Lauderdale, FL 33308 Tel: 954-489-9800 | Fax: 954-489-0401

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