OBJECTIVES: To estimate direct annual healthcare utilization and costs of for patients with head and neck cancer. METHODS: The 2008 Medical Expenditure Panel Survey (MEPS) database, a nationally representative annual survey of the civilian non-institutionalized population of the U.S was used.   Patients’ data were extracted if they had a Clinical Classification Code (CCC) for head and neck cancer (code 11) and International Classification of Disease 9 (ICD-9) code of 140.xx-149.xx or 160.xx-161.xx. The SURVEYREG procedure in SAS for weighted populations was used. RESULTS: Only 17 patients (representing 223,263 persons) met inclusion criteria, therefore weighting may not be robust.  Direct unweighted medical costs attributable to cancer were estimated at $6,171 + 11,288 (mean ± standard deviation) per patient.  Approximately half ($ 2860 + 6399) of this estimate was generated by outpatient costs.  Physician office visits ($1,609 +4,291) and inpatient hospital visits ($1225+ 5054) contributed to most of the remaining costs. If MEPS weightings were used, the total costs were estimated at $ 8629 - again with about half generated by outpatient costs, and the majority of remaining costs split between office visits and hospitalizations. Since MEPS only provides 3 digits of the 5-digit ICD-9, some patients may have been missed as we did not include some ICD9s listed by CCC 11; such as 195.xx “Malignant neoplasm of other and ill-defined sites” nor 230.xx “Carcinoma in situ of digestive organs” which included some cancers related to the head and neck (e.g. 230.0 - Carcinoma in situ of lip oral cavity and pharynx) as well as others not related to these areas (e.g. 230.3 - Carcinoma in situ of colon). CONCLUSIONS: The sample size was small in this database.  Future studies should be conducted using databases with more patients and/or a more precise level of diagnosis coding.