As the cost of cancer treatment rises, so does the anxiety level of those diagnosed. The University of Chicago has developed a tool to assess the financial pain of cancer treatment.

In the July issue of Cancer,  a team from The University of Chicago discusses a tool they have developed to measure a patient’s risk for and ability to tolerate financial stress. The COST (Comprehensive Score for Financial Toxicity) tool is a way for physicians to open up a discussion about treatment costs and the stress involved with their patients.

The above image shows sample statements from the Comprehensive Score for Financial Toxicity (COST) tool questionnaire.

Jonas de Souza, MD, a head-and-neck cancer specialist at the University of Chicago Medicine, had this to say about the study:cost-tool-jonas

Few physicians discuss this increasingly significant side effect with their patients. Physicians aren’t trained to do this. It makes them, as well as patients, feel uncomfortable,” he said. “We aren’t good at it. We believe that a thoughtful, concise tool that could help predict a patient’s risk for financial toxicity might open the lines of communication. This gives us a way to launch that discussion.”

Click here to learn more about The COST tool.