A method for determining an optimized surveillance schedule of follow-up diagnostic tests and doctor visits considers the tradeoff between timely detection of relapse and the cost of the diagnostic procedures. A method for generating a surveillance schedule for monitoring a recurrence of a condition includes the steps of (a) scheduling an initial testing date to test for the recurrence of the condition; (b) establishing a threshold, wherein the threshold is the cost associated with a subsequent testing date over the cost per recurrence detected; and (c) scheduling each subsequent testing date to test for the recurrence of the condition when a cumulative risk of recurrence of the condition since the previous testing date exceeds the threshold. A system utilizing this method is also disclosed.