Temporal trends in centralization and racial disparities in utilization of high-volume hospitals for lung cancer surgery

101 Background: Racial disparities are well described in the management of early-stage lung cancer, with Black patients less likely to receive potentially curative surgery than non-Hispanic Whites. A multi-site pragmatic trial entitled Accountability for Cancer Care through Undoing Racism and Equity (ACCURE), designed in collaboration with community partners, eliminated racial disparities in lung cancer surgery through a multi-component intervention. The study involved real-time electronic health record (EHR) monitoring to identify patients not receiving recommended care, a nurse navigator who reviewed and addressed EHR alerts daily, and race-specific feedback provided to clinical teams. Timeliness of cancer care is an important quality metric. Delays can lead to disease progression, upstaging, and worse survival, and Black patients are more likely to experience longer wait times to lung cancer surgery. Yet interventions to reduce racial disparities in timely delivery of lung cancer surgery have not been well studied. We evaluated the effect of ACCURE on timely receipt of lung cancer surgery. Methods: We analyzed data of a retrospective cohort at five cancer centers gathered prior to the ACCURE intervention and compared results with prospective data collected during the intervention. We calculated mean time from clinical suspicion of lung cancer to surgery and evaluated the proportion of patients who received surgery within 60 days stratified by race. We performed a t-test to compare mean days to surgery and chi2 for the delivery of surgery within 60 days. Results: 1320 patients underwent surgery in the retrospective arm, 160 were Black. 254 patients received surgery in the intervention arm, 85 were Black. Results are summarized in Table. Mean time to surgery in the retrospective cohort was 41.8 days, compared with 25.5 days in the intervention cohort (p<0.01). In the retrospective cohort, 68.8% of Black patients received surgery within 60 days versus 78.9% of White patients (p<0.01). In the intervention, the difference between Blacks and Whites with respect to surgery within 60 days was no longer significant (89.41% of Black patients vs 94.67% of White patients, p=0.12). Conclusions: Racial disparities exist in the delivery of timely lung cancer surgery. The ACCURE intervention improved time to surgery and timeliness of surgery for Black and White patients with early-stage lung cancer. A combination of real-time EHR monitoring, nurse navigation, and race-based feedback markedly reduced racial disparities in timely lung cancer care. [Table: see text]

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Regionalization and Outcomes of Lung Cancer Surgery in Ontario, Canada

Journal of Clinical Oncology ◽

10.1200/jco.2016.69.8076 ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 35 (24) ◽

pp. 2772-2780 ◽

Cited By ~ 22

Author(s):

Anna M. Bendzsak ◽

Nancy N. Baxter ◽

Gail E. Darling ◽

Peter C. Austin ◽

David R. Urbach

Keyword(s):

Lung Cancer ◽

Odds Ratio ◽

Operative Mortality ◽

Lung Cancer Surgery ◽

Length Of Hospital Stay ◽

High Volume ◽

Economic Incentives ◽

Cancer Surgery ◽

Health Services Use ◽

Cross Sectional

Purpose Regionalization of complex surgery to high-volume hospitals has been advocated based on cross-sectional volume-outcome studies. In April 2007, the agency overseeing cancer care in Ontario, Canada, implemented a policy to regionalize lung cancer surgery at 14 designated hospitals, enforced by economic incentives and penalties. We studied the effects of implementation of this policy. Methods Using administrative health data, we used interrupted time series models to analyze the immediate and delayed effects of implementation of the policy on the distribution of lung cancer surgery among hospitals, surgical outcomes, and health services use. Results From 2004 to 2012, 16,641 patients underwent surgery for lung cancer. The proportion of operations performed in designated hospitals increased from 71% to 89% after the policy was implemented. Although operative mortality decreased from 4.1% to 2.9% (adjusted odds ratio, 0.68; 95% CI, 0.58 to 0.81; P < .001), the reduction was due to a preexisting declining trend in mortality. In contrast, in the years after implementation of the policy, length of hospital stay decreased more than expected from the baseline trend by 7% per year (95% CI, 5% to 9%; P < .001), and the distance traveled by all patients to the hospital for surgery increased by 4% per year (95% CI, 0% to 8%; P = .03), neither of which were explained by preexisting trends. Analyses limited to patients ≥ 70 years of age demonstrated a reduction in operative mortality (odds ratio, 0.80 per year after regionalization; 95% CI, 0.67 to 0.95; P = .01). Conclusion A policy to regionalize lung cancer surgery in Ontario led to increased centralization of surgery services but was not independently associated with improvements in operative mortality. Improvements in length of stay and in operative mortality among elderly patients suggest areas where regionalization may be beneficial.

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