Trends in Cancer-Center Spending on Advertising in the United States, 2005 to 2014

Abstract

In the United States, cancer centers commonly advertise clinical services directly to the public. Potential benefits of such advertising include informing patients about available treatments and reducing the stigma of cancer.1, 2 Potential risks include misleading vulnerable patients and creating false hopes, increasing demand for unnecessary tests and treatments, adversely affecting existing clinician-patient relationships, and increasing healthcare costs.3, 4 Understanding trends in the advertising spending of cancer centers and the characteristics of the centers that spend the most can inform the debate about the impact of these advertisements. Our hypothesis was that advertising spending has increased and that spending is concentrated among for-profit cancer centers.