Did the COVID-19 pandemic delay treatment for localized breast cancer patients? A multicenter study.

Background: Longer times between diagnosis and treatments of cancer patients have been estimated as effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. However, relatively few studies attempted to estimate actual delay to treatment at the patient level.

Objective: To assess changes in delays to first treatment and surgery among newly diagnosed patients with localized breast cancer (BC) during the COVID-19 pandemic.

COVID-19 Infection despite Previous Vaccination in Cancer Patients and Healthcare Workers: Results from a French Prospective Multicenter Cohort (PAPESCO-19).

In a multicenter prospective cohort of cancer patients (CP; n = 840) and healthcare workers (HCWs; n = 935) vaccinated against COVID-19, we noticed the following: i/after vaccination, 4.4% of HCWs and 5.8% of CP were infected; ii/no characteristic was associated with post-vaccine COVID-19 infections among HCWs; iii/CP who developed infections were younger, more frequently women (NS), more frequently had gastrointestinal, gynecological, or breast cancer and a localized cancer stage; iv/CP vaccinated while receiving chemotherapy or targeted therapy had (NS) more breakthrough infections after vaccination than those vaccinated after these treatments; the opposite was noted with radiotherapy, immunotherapy, or hormonotherapy; v/most COVID-19 infections occurred either during the Alpha wave (11/41 HCW, 20/49 CP), early after the first vaccination campaign started, or during the Omicron wave (21/41 HCW, 20/49 CP), more than 3 months after the second dose; vi/risk of infection was not associated with values of antibody titers; vii/the outcome of these COVID-19 infections after vaccination was not severe in all cases.

COVID-19 Infections in Cancer Patients Were Frequently Asymptomatic: Description From a French Prospective Multicenter Cohort (PAPESCO-19).

Background: Cancer patients (CPs) are considered more vulnerable and as a high mortality group regarding COVID-19. In this analysis, we aimed to describe asymptomatic COVID (+) CPs and associated factors.

Methods: We conducted a prospective study in CPs and health care workers (HCWs) in 4 French cancer centers (PAPESCO [] study).

Embedding the Community and Individuals in Disease Prevention.

The primary prevention of non-communicable diseases is one of the most challenging and exciting aspects of medicine and primary care this century. For cancer, it is an urgent matter in light of the increasing burden of the disease among younger people and the higher frequency of more aggressive forms of the disease for all ages. Most chronic disorders result from the influence of the environment on the expression of genes within an individual.

Anosmia but Not Ageusia as a COVID-19-Related Symptom among Cancer Patients-First Results from the PAPESCO-19 Cohort Study.

Cancer patients may fail to distinguish COVID-19 symptoms such as anosmia, dysgeusia/ageusia, anorexia, headache, and fatigue, which are frequent after cancer treatments. We aimed to identify symptoms associated with COVID-19 and to assess the strength of their association in cancer and cancer-free populations. The multicenter cohort study PAPESCO-19 included 878 cancer patients and 940 healthcare workers (HCWs).

Willingness to pay for informal care in France: the value of funding support interventions for caregivers.

Objectives: This article aims to assess the relationship between the monetary value of informal care - approximated with the caregiver's willingness to pay to reduce caregiving time - and the caregiver's need of three types of support services: care training, respite care and support group. Developing such services may be the only way to provide sustainable informal care in the future, along with efficient allocation.

Data & Methods: Data used stemmed from two representative national surveys conducted by French National Institute of Statistics and Economic Studies and the French Head Office of Research, Studies, Evaluation and Statistics of the Social Affairs Ministry in 2008.

Evaluation of full costs of care for patients with Alzheimer's disease in France: the predominant role of informal care.

Objective: It is crucial that the cost of Alzheimer's disease be evaluated, from a societal perspective, since the number of patients is expected to increase dramatically in the coming decades. This assessment of the full cost of care for community-dwelling patients with Alzheimer's disease in France also addresses the factors associated with informal care, its predominant component.

Data And Methods: From 2009 to 2010, 57 patient/informal caregiver pairs were interviewed using the Resource Utilization in Dementia questionnaire, adapted to provide a micro-costing approach of the overall care process.

Economic analysis of the intangible impacts of informal care for people with Alzheimer's disease and other mental disorders.

Objectives: Valuation of the intangible impacts of informal care remains a great challenge for economic evaluation, especially in the framework of care recipients with cognitive impairment. Our main objective was to explore the influence of intangible impacts of caring on both informal caregivers' ability to estimate their willingness to pay (WTP) to be replaced and their WTP value.

Methods: We mapped characteristics that influence ability or inability to estimate WTP by using a multiple correspondence analysis.

Childbirth and Diagnosis Related Groups (DRGs): patient classification and hospital reimbursement in 11 European countries.

Objectives: The study compares how Diagnosis-Related Group (DRG) based hospital payment systems in eleven European countries (Austria, England, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Ireland, Netherlands, Poland, Spain, and Sweden) deal with women giving birth in hospitals. It aims to assist gynaecologists and national authorities in optimizing their DRG systems.

Methods: National or regional databases were used to identify childbirth cases.

What can we learn from a cross-country comparison of the costs of child delivery?

This study provides a comparative analysis of the costs of normal delivery in hospital in nine European countries using the data collected as part of the HealthBASKET project. The results show that both the level of input (medical labour) prices and the skill mix used for delivery are major determinants of total delivery costs. At the hospital level, there seems to be room for greater efficiency through specialisation and task shifting from doctors to midwives and nurses.

Accounting and reimbursement schemes for inpatient care in France.

The new French case-mix system of hospital payment was adopted in 2004 for public hospitals and in March 2005 for private-for-profit hospitals. Implementing this reform requires a period of transition but the challenges ahead can already be predicted. Prices will have to change before this mode of reimbursement can have any real impact.

The "Health Benefit Basket" in France.

The French "Health Benefit Basket" is defined principally by positive lists of reimbursed goods and services; however, global budget-financed hospital-delivered services are more implicitly defined. The range of reimbursable curative care services is defined by two coexisting positive lists/fee schedules: the Classification Commune des Actes Médicaux (CCAM) and the Nomenclature Générale des Actes Professionnels (NGAP). The National Union of Health Insurance Funds has been updating these positive lists since August 2004, with the main criterion for inclusion being the proposed procedure's effectiveness.

The search for the Holy Grail: combining decentralised planning and contracting mechanisms in the French health care system.

France has recently adopted one of the least market-oriented models for reforming its health care system, where competition does not feature at all prominently in the overall policy design. This country has a strong tradition of top-down public administration, and health professionals, trade unions and the general public are all uneasy about the idea of introducing market forces and privatising public health provision. The main reforms discussed in this article were based on planning, rationalisation, cost-containment, efficiency and equity.

Tackling regional health inequalities in france by resource allocation : a case for complementary instrumental and process-based approaches?

This article aims to evaluate the results of two different approaches underlying the attempts to reduce health inequalities in France. In the 'instrumental' approach, resource allocation is based on an indicator to assess the well-being or the quality of life associated with healthcare provision, the argument being that additional resources would respond to needs that could then be treated quickly and efficiently. This governs the distribution of regional hospital budgets.