Radiotherapy cost-calculation and its impact on capacity planning.

The rapid rise in health care expenses has resulted in an increased interest in the cost of treatments from a cost-effectiveness point of view for management purposes and in a reimbursement setting. The economics of radiotherapy within the global context of health care, and more specifically of cancer therapy, are discussed in this review. Furthermore, the calculation of radiotherapy costs from an institutional perspective using activity-based costing and on capacity planning in radiotherapy - at the departmental as well as at the national level - by integrating cost, epidemiological and scientifico-technological data are focused on.