Delivering high-quality cancer care: The critical role of quality measurement

212 Background: The 2006 ASCO and the ESMO consensus statement on quality cancer care defined the delivery of multimodality treatment by a multidisciplinary team of appropriately skilled health professionals as an essential component of quality cancer care. Furthermore, MDCs have demonstrated improved survival in breast, head and neck, ovarian and colorectal cancers. Despite these advantages, health care systems struggle to implement and sustain MDCs due to the heavy burden imposed by the required work processes. We report on the large-scale utilization of a propriety quality measurement platform OncoLens to run MDCs across the country. Methods: Technology quality metrics were collected from the ongoing daily usage of the platform including cancer characteristics, care team utilization metrics, average attendance, quality metrics collected for accreditation and clinical trials matching on the OncoLens platform. Results: The virtual platform was accessible to around 8000 providers across the United States. In 2020, 13771 cases were discussed. Attendance of the required specialties for high quality care of Medical Oncology, Radiation Oncology, Surgery, Pathology and Radiology was attained, with the average conference attendance being 14. Race/ethnicity data on the cases revealed White (9197, 67%), Black (1817,13%), Hispanic (363,3%) and Other (2356,17%). Optional quality metrics were collected during discussions for CoC, NAPBC and NAPRC accreditation. These included NCCN guidelines discussed, Staging discussed, clinical trials discussed, Genetics discussion, palliative care discussion, rehabilitation services, reproductive counselling discussed, psychosocial counselling discussed, nutritional counselling discussed, reconstructive surgery discussion, tobacco cessation discussion across General and Site-specific conferences. Most of the case presentations were prospective. This format does enable cancer programs to collect quality metrics around Cancer program accreditation by the American College of Surgeons. 66% of patients discussed potentially matched to clinical trials during the discussion. Conclusions: A technology platform can assist cancer programs to collect quality metrics around cancer care. This gives them the ability to run data driven quality programs targeting specific quality metrics. Hispanics have a lower percentage of cases presented at MDC compared to other race/ethnicities. It is possible to have high quality discussions and attain metrics for Commission on Cancer accreditation utilizing a virtual platform.

Download Full-text

Evaluating Barriers and Opportunities in Delivering High-Quality Oncology Care in a Resource-Limited Setting Using a Comprehensive Needs Assessment Tool

Journal of Global Oncology ◽

10.1200/jgo.18.00125 ◽

2018 ◽

pp. 1-9

Author(s):

Chika R. Nwachukwu ◽

Omobola Mudasiru ◽

Lynn Million ◽

Shruti Sheth ◽

Hope Qamoos ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Palliative Care ◽

Needs Assessment ◽

Cancer Care ◽

Assessment Tool ◽

Hospital Staff ◽

Teaching Hospitals ◽

High Quality ◽

Middle Income ◽

Quality Cancer Care ◽

Oncology Care

Purpose Despite recognition of both the growing cancer burden in low- and middle-income countries and the disproportionately high mortality rates in these settings, delivery of high-quality cancer care remains a challenge. The disparities in cancer care outcomes for many geographic regions result from barriers that are likely complex and understudied. This study describes the development and use of a streamlined needs assessment questionnaire (NAQ) to understand the barriers to providing quality cancer care, identifies areas for improvement, and formulates recommendations for implementation. Methods Using a comprehensive NAQ, in-depth interviews were conducted with 17 hospital staff involved in cancer care at two teaching hospitals in Nigeria. Data were analyzed using content analysis and organized into a framework with preset codes and emergent codes, where applicable. Results Data from the interviews were organized into six broad themes: staff, stuff, system, space, lack of palliative care, and provider bias, with key barriers within themes including: financial, infrastructural, lack of awareness, limited human capacity resources, lack of palliative care, and provider perspective on patient-related barriers to cancer care. Specific solutions based on ability to reasonably implement were subcategorized into short-, medium-, and long-term goals. Conclusion This study provides a framework for a streamlined initial needs assessment and a unique discussion on the barriers to high-quality oncology care that are prevalent in resource-constrained settings. We report the feasibility of collecting and organizing data using a streamlined NAQ and provide a thorough and in-depth understanding of the challenges in this setting. Knowledge gained from the assessments will inform steps to improve oncology cancer in these settings.

Download Full-text

Achieving a High-Quality Cancer Care Delivery System for Older Adults: Innovative Models of Care

Seminars in Oncology Nursing ◽

10.1016/j.soncn.2016.02.006 ◽

2016 ◽

Vol 32 (2) ◽

pp. 122-133 ◽

Cited By ~ 3

Author(s):

Janet H. Van Cleave ◽

Esther Smith-Howell ◽

Mary D. Naylor

Keyword(s):

Older Adults ◽

Delivery System ◽

Cancer Care ◽

Care Delivery ◽

Models Of Care ◽

High Quality ◽

Quality Cancer Care

Download Full-text

NCCN Summit Focuses on Strategies to Lower Costs for High-Quality Cancer Care

Oncology Times ◽

10.1097/01.cot.0000719348.15095.dd ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 42 (19) ◽

pp. 30-31

Author(s):

Peggy Eastman

Keyword(s):

Cancer Care ◽

High Quality ◽

Quality Cancer Care

Download Full-text

Editor's Memo

Kidney Cancer Journal ◽

10.52733/kcj19n2-e1 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 19 (2) ◽

Author(s):

Robert Figlin

Keyword(s):

Cancer Research ◽

Health Equity ◽

Cancer Care ◽

Scientific Collaboration ◽

Opinion Leaders ◽

High Quality ◽

Quality Cancer Care ◽

Key Opinion Leaders ◽

American Society ◽

Silver Lining

The COVID-19 pandemic has exposed fundamental disparities in the provision of health care across our nation and exacerbated the differences in health outcomes associated with race, socioeconomic and other demographic factors. A silver lining however is that pandemic precarity has inspired tremendous scientific collaboration among clinicians, researchers, and key opinion leaders. In this line, this year’s Annual Meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO21) which was kicked off virtually on June 4 through June 8, not only celebrated latest breakthroughs in cancer research, treatment and patient care, but also focused on health equity in cancer care. ASCO21’s fitting theme - Health equity “doing right by the patients for whom we care” reflected addressing complex forces and systems that have created disparities in cancer care, treatment, and research and identifying ways to ensure that all patients have access to and benefit from the latest cancer advances and high-quality cancer care.

Download Full-text

Health economic assessment of cancer therapy

Oxford Textbook of Oncology ◽

10.1093/med/9780199656103.003.0026 ◽

2016 ◽

pp. 236-242

Author(s):

Jeffrey Peppercorn

Keyword(s):

Health Economic ◽

Cost Effectiveness ◽

Cancer Therapy ◽

Cancer Care ◽

Quality Care ◽

Economic Assessment ◽

Control Cost ◽

High Quality ◽

Quality Cancer Care ◽

Quality And Outcomes

Our ability to deliver high-quality cancer care is increasingly influenced by our ability to understand and manage the costs of care. Though there are considerable differences in the ways healthcare is financed and administered in different nations, there is a common need to deliver high-quality care at sustainable costs. This chapter reviews recent estimates of the aggregate costs of cancer care, discusses methods for determining cost-effectiveness or value in cancer care, provides a framework for understanding the components of cost at the societal and individual levels, and discusses efforts to control cost while preserving or improving both quality and outcomes.

Download Full-text