OBJECTIVES: Although cancer morbidity is lower than cardiovascular or metabolic diseases, it is still the second leading cause of mortality and also the major economic problem due to high cost of treatment. According to estimations by the Karolinska Institutet and Stockholm School of Economics, the direct costs of caring for cancer patients are approximately 6.5% of total healthcare costs. The aim of this study was to estimate cost of hospital care in population of patients with neoplasms in 2009. METHODS: We used National Health Fund (NHF) statistics on Diagnosis-Related Groups (DRGs) attrition in 2009 year. Precise, in respect to ICD-10 diagnosis, NHF statistics cover 85% of all data. We identified data only for malignant neoplasms (C00-C97), in situ neoplasms (D00-D09) and neoplasms of uncertain or unknown behavior (D37-D48). Values are presented in Euro (exchange rate: 1 EUR=4.00 PLN).  RESULTS: Cost of hospital care in population of patients with neoplasms was estimated to amount of 246.3 million EUR (289.7 million EUR when correction for 85% statistics cover will be applied). The highest costs of hospital care were related to malignant neoplasm of bronchus and lung (34.3 million EUR) followed by malignant neoplasm of bladder (26.5 million EUR), and malignant neoplasm of colon (22.8 million EUR). Given the number of cancer patients in Poland which is estimated to be 270 thousands, cost of hospital care per cancer patient per year would be approximately 1073 EUR. However apart from DRGs, cost of hospital care in population of patients with neoplasms includes also separately contracted chemotherapy (374.3 million EUR) and some Therapeutics Programs with a new drugs such as trastuzumab in breast cancer (46.1 million EUR) . CONCLUSIONS: Cost of hospital care in population of cancer patients is substantial and account for over 11.5% of all costs of hospital care in Poland in 2009.