Each year, individuals with cancer incur 1.4 million hospitalizations (5 percent of all hospital discharges) (Graves and Gillum, 1997). In 1994, relatively few types of cancer accounted for the majority (52 percent) of hospitalizations—lung and other respiratory cancers, lymphomas and leukemias, and cancers of the colon and rectum, female breast, and prostate (Table 2.4). Most individuals hospitalized with a principal diagnosis of cancer are elderly (55 percent), and Medicare is the payer for most hospital care (Table 2.4). A greater share of cancer-related hospitalizations occurs in larger than in smaller hospitals (i.e., 45 percent of cancer-related hospitalization are in hospitals with 300 beds or more, and 37 percent are in hospitals with fewer than 200 beds) (Table 2.4).

With the advent of earlier hospital discharges, there has been a growing demand for services provided in the home. About 6 percent of the 2 million individuals estimated to be receiving home health care services each year have cancer (Jones and Strahan, 1997). Most indi-