OBJECTIVES: In Austria, 38,000 people are yearly diagnosed with cancer, which is the world’s leading cause of death (Austria: 19,547), followed by heart disease and stroke. Advances in early detection, prevention and treatment have led to decreasing cancer death and more favorable outcomes. Moreover, significant increases in the cost of cancer care have come in parallel with these advances. The cost factor related to modern cancer treatment is increasingly a matter of debate. Hence, the aim of the analysis was to evaluate the cost of cancer expressed as reimbursed lump-sums of the DRG system, number of inpatients stays and Length-of-Stay (LOS) in the inpatient setting to bring more transparency in the discussion and bridge the information-gap. METHODS: We performed a retrospective claim-based analysis with Austrian DRG-System (LKF Leistungsorientierte Krankenanstaltenfinanzierung) data. The DRG-System is based on ICD-10 codes. Payment consists of one or several case-based lump-sums. Our analysis included all cancer hospital admissions. The cost-evaluation is based on the refunded lump-sums of the DRG-System for the year 2011.  RESULTS: In 2011, 353,883 inpatient stays with a diagnosis of cancer were monitored. Hospital stays due to cancer accounts for 14% of the entire inpatient stays in Austria. The average LOS in cancer patients was 4.35 days and was associated with average costs per stay of 3,730 Euros. Compared with the total number of admissions these numbers are below average (LOS: 5.43; costs per stay: 3,949 Euros). Furthermore, cancer patients received medical services to the value of 927 million Euro or 14.2% of total reimbursed lump-sums (6.53 billion Euros) in Austria. 224 million Euros fall upon medical tumour therapy. With regard to monoclonal antibody therapies, 56 million Euros was refunded.  CONCLUSIONS: The current development in modern cancer therapies leads to efficient treatment pathways expressed in higher survival rates, reduced hospital days and an improved quality-of-life.