Failing to Plan Is Planning to Fail: Improving the Quality of Care With Survivorship Care Plans

2006 ◽  
Vol 24 (32) ◽  
pp. 5112-5116 ◽  
Author(s):  
Craig C. Earle

The recent Institute of Medicine report “From Cancer Patient to Cancer Survivor: Lost in Transition” recommended the creation of survivorship care plans for patients as they complete primary therapy for cancer to ensure clarity for all involved about patients’ diagnoses, treatments received, and surveillance plans. Any previously existing follow-up guidelines for cancer survivors have been largely restricted to surveillance for recurrence of the primary disease. An important message of the Institute of Medicine report is that survivorship care plans must surpass this and address the chronic effects of cancer (pain, fatigue, premature menopause, depression/anxiety), monitoring for and preventing late effects like osteoporosis, heart disease, and second malignancies, and promoting healthy lifestyles. It should explicitly identify the providers responsible for each aspect of ongoing care and provide information on resources available for psychosocial and other practical issues that may arise as a result of the prior cancer diagnosis. Although having some sort of a plan is clearly necessary to achieve high quality care, there are practical barriers to formal off-treatment consultations and the creation of written documents that may become part of the medical record. This article reviews the elements of the proposed survivorship care plan and discusses areas of research and development needed to make them part of standard oncology practice.

2018 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. 3-9 ◽  
Author(s):  
Heather E Leeper ◽  
Alvina A Acquaye ◽  
Susan Bell ◽  
Jennifer L Clarke ◽  
Deborah Forst ◽  
...  

Abstract Cancer patient survivorship has become a significant topic within oncology care for both adult and pediatric patients. Starting in 2005, the Institute of Medicine recommended the use of survivorship care plans to assist patients transitioning from active treatment to the posttreatment phase of their cancer care, a critical time for many patients. Since 2014 there has been a mandate within the United States for adult cancer patients treated with curative intent to receive survivorship care plans comprised of a treatment summary and a follow-up plan to facilitate a better understanding among patients of what to expect after treatment. In addition to a general oncology survivorship care plan, specific care plans have been created for breast, lung, prostate, and colon cancers, as well as lymphoma. A survivorship care plan specific to adult neuro-oncology has been developed by a multidisciplinary and interprofessional committee, with approval from the Society for Neuro-Oncology Guidelines Committee. It has been published in compendium with this review of survivorship care planning and available as a fillable PDF on the Society of Neuro-Oncology Guidelines Endorsement web page (https://www.soc-neuro-onc.org/SNO/Resources/Survivorship_Care_Plan.aspx). Implementation of this survivorship care plan provides a unique opportunity to begin addressing the range of survivorship issues our neuro-oncology patients navigate from diagnosis to end of life.


2013 ◽  
Vol 31 (15_suppl) ◽  
pp. 9608-9608
Author(s):  
Ruth Rechis ◽  
Carla Bann ◽  
Stephanie Nutt ◽  
Linda Squiers ◽  
Naveen Rao

9608 Background: There are more than 14 million cancer survivors in the US – a number that is on the rise. Care coordination resources will be essential to provide support to this growing population. Key stakeholders, including the Commission on Cancer (CoC) and the Institute of Medicine, have proposed survivorship care plans (SCPs) as a way to extend support. However, limited research has been conducted to date on SCPs. Methods: In 2012, the LIVESTRONG Foundation (LIVESTRONG) administered a survey to understand the role of a treatment summary (TS) and SCPs and how they fit into survivors’ care. Logistic regression models were conducted to identify factors associated with receiving SCPs or TS. Results: 5,303 survivors responded to these questions (Table). While 92% of these respondents received information about where to return to for cancer check-ups, only 51% reported receiving a TS and 17% reported receiving a SCP. Survivors who were more likely to receive SCPs if they had a navigator (p<.001) and if they were male, Black, had finished treatment within the past year, or received care at a university-based medical center or community cancer center (p < 0.05). Also, those receiving a SCP were significantly more likely to have had a detailed discussion with a provider regarding long-term side effects, emotional needs, and lifestyle recommendations. Specifically, 60% of those with a SCP discussed long-term effects compared to 39% who did not. Conclusions: Results here indicate that few survivors receive SCPs but survivors reported benefits from receiving them. Currently many workflow barriers impede delivering SCPs, and LIVESTRONG is working with key stakeholders including the CoC to automate the LIVESTRONG Care Plan powered by Penn Medicine’s OncoLink through a registry and EMR system to understand how to address this issue. [Table: see text]


2016 ◽  
Vol 34 (3_suppl) ◽  
pp. 52-52 ◽  
Author(s):  
Cynthia Rogers ◽  
Shailesh R. Satpute

52 Background: It is widely accepted that providing survivorship care plans leads to improvements in outcomes for cancer survivors. Treatment summaries are now part of ASCO and NCCN survivorship guidelines. We faced a unique challenge of implementing the survivorship care plan at the Jones Clinic as a small independent practice. The Jones Clinic consists of three full time physicians and two full time nurse practitioners. We see approximately 850 new patients per year. Methods: As a part of ASCO’s quality training program, we focused on the stage I – III (early stage) breast cancer patients who completed their initial therapy. We formed a team, identified the barriers, created a flow diagram of the process, assigned roles for each individual member and finally implemented the process. Results: The major issues identified were lack of provision in the electronic medical record (EMR) system for survivorship and lack of standardized data entry process. We created a system in the EMR for survivorship data entry and extraction of such data in a document. Since July 2015, one hundred percent of breast cancer patients completing adjuvant therapy at the Jones Clinic have received a survivorship treatment summary and a plan of care. The care plan is also shared with their primary care provider. Importantly, creating a survivorship document required less than 10 minutes of the provider’s time. Conclusions: We are now able to provide our patients with a survivorship care plan and address survivorship issues within thirty days of completion of therapy. Creating the care plan requires minimal time from the providers. Our new process meets ASCO guidelines for survivorship care plans and no additional staffing was needed. We now plan to provide a survivorship care plan to all oncology patients treated with curative intent.


2013 ◽  
Vol 31 (31_suppl) ◽  
pp. 146-146
Author(s):  
Kimlin Tan Ashing ◽  
Monica Rosales ◽  
Gingi Fulcher ◽  
Mayra Serrano ◽  
Jeffrey N. Weitzel ◽  
...  

146 Background: African and Latina-American breast cancers patients (BCA) experience the greatest morbidity and mortality, suggesting a critical need for improved surveillance and quality care. The Institute of Medicine (IOM) and the Commission on Cancer (CoC) recommend that survivors receive personalized Treatment Summaries and Survivorship Care Plans (TSSCP) in order to facilitate best practice in clinical surveillance and follow-up care. This TSSCP template development study joined advocacy, scientific and medical communities to comprise a diverse advisory council (AC, N=38) to inform the development of the TSSCP-AA (African American) and TSSCP-S (Latino) templates targeting BCA. This abstract reports on the development, and presents the TSSCP-AA and TSSCP-S. Methods: The overall study was guided by the Shared Care and Psychooncology Models, and Contextual Model of Health Related Quality of Life. The AC provided input into the culturally relevant modifications of the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) TSSCP template to create the TSSCP-AA and TSSCP-S. Health care professionals enlisted from cancer centers and community hospitals (n=51) evaluated the TSSCP-AA and TSSCP-S templates on the following domains: content, clarity, utility, and cultural and socioecological responsiveness. Results: AC input revealed that the clinical (i.e., comorbidities) and cultural contexts (i.e., language, spirituality) must inform TS and SCP, respectively. Preliminary evaluation analyses documented that health professionals rated our TSSCP-AA and TSSCP-S templates as excellent to outstanding on content, clarity, utility, cultural responsiveness, and socioecological responsiveness (p<0.01). Conclusions: The evaluation results imply that the TSSCP-AA and TSSCP-S templates achieved cultural responsiveness with high acceptability and utility among professionals and survivors. We created both paper and electronic versions of theTSSCP-AA andTSSCP-S (English and bilingual English-Spanish formats) for providers to create individualized TSSCPs. Further, our TSSCP development approach can be adopted for TSSCP template development targeting ethnic/linguistic minority cancer survivors.


2019 ◽  
Vol 37 (15_suppl) ◽  
pp. 10519-10519
Author(s):  
Hira Latif ◽  
Patrick Martone ◽  
James Edward Shaw ◽  
Eric Wisotzky ◽  
Asma Ali Dilawari

10519 Background: Advances in early detection, therapeutics, and an aging population are expected to lead to an increase in the number of cancer survivors in the United States to 20 million by year 2026. The Institute of Medicine and Commission on Cancer recommends delivery of survivorship care plans on completion of curative treatment. While models exist for high-quality survivorship care, institutions encounter barriers such as lack of resources and limited training in survivorship. Our institution piloted a unique model combining fellows’ education with guideline-driven recommendations from a multidisciplinary team to provide consolidated survivorship care. Methods: A survey for self-reported competence and experience was conducted amongst the hematology and oncology fellows at the MedStar Washington Hospital Center. A bimonthly clinic staffed by a medical oncologist, oncology fellow and a cancer rehabilitation fellow was initiated in September 2018. Didactic lectures, curriculum syllabus and recommended assessments were established. Screening tools for distress, patients’ confidence in knowledge about survivorship and physical function via PROMIS 20a were administered; clinical assessments including the “6-minute walk test” were used to assess cardiovascular health. Results: Most fellows had not encountered a survivor of lung (16%), GU (0%) and head and neck cancer (33%). Majority of the fellows had never delivered a survivorship care plan. Scores were low in competence and experience in survivorship. By December 2018, 15 patients with 17 diagnoses of cancer were referred to the clinic. 10 were survivors of hematologic malignancies while 7 were of solid tumors. The no-show rate was 40%. Fellows conducted the assessments and were supervised by an oncology attending. Of the 9 patients seen, 4 were referred for physical therapy; additional referrals for psychology and cardiology were frequent. Conclusions: A comprehensive multidisciplinary survivorship clinic focusing on fellows’ education is a feasible model for delivery of survivorship care and aims to bridge the gap in experience and competence of fellows. Future goals include re-assessment of patient-reported outcomes, physical function, and competence of fellows.


2020 ◽  
Vol 38 (15_suppl) ◽  
pp. e22522-e22522
Author(s):  
Jared David Acoba ◽  
Sharon Tamashiro ◽  
Marci Chock

e22522 Background: Numerous studies have evaluated the impact of cancer survivorship care. However, no study to date has focused on Asian or Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander (NH/PI) cancer survivors. It has been well documented that Asian and NH/PI patients often suffer from inferior cancer outcomes compared to White patients, and differences in their experience with cancer survivorship care could contribute to this disparity. Methods: Surveys were sent to 1410 cancer survivors who were treated at a community cancer center with curative intent and who had received survivorship care plans between Jan 2014 and June 2018. The 26-item questionnaire evaluated patients’ perception of various aspects of their survivorship care plan and follow-up physician visits. All responses were anonymous. Results: Of the 360 patients who responded, 24% were White, 54% Asian, and 13% NH/PI. Compared to Whites, Asian and NH/PI patients were younger (p = 0.004), less educated (p = 0.004), and reported a lower income (p < 0.0005). Among all patients, 62% reported that the survivorship care plan was “very helpful” and 86% rated their satisfaction with physician follow-up visits as “very good” to “excellent.” There were no racial differences in satisfaction with either survivorship care plan or physician follow-up. In a multivariate binary logistic regression, Asians and NH/PI patients were significantly more likely to rate ongoing survivorship care as helpful compared to Whites, OR 4.08 (95%CI, 2.13-7.82). Conclusions: There were no racial differences in patient satisfaction with their survivorship care plans and follow-up care. However, Asian and NH/PI patients valued ongoing cancer survivorship care follow-up significantly more than White patients. Whether more extensive survivorship care would lead to improved outcomes among Asian and NH/PI cancer patients should be investigated further.


2016 ◽  
Vol 34 (3_suppl) ◽  
pp. 68-68 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mary Mendelsohn ◽  
Joanne E. Mortimer ◽  
Leslie Popplewell ◽  
Lily L. Lai ◽  
Ellie Maghami ◽  
...  

68 Background: The development and initiation of Survivorship Care Plans (SCPs) across all disease sites was identified as a Strategic Initiative Goals for 2015 by the Clinical Cancer Committee. The 2012 Commission on Cancer requirements for certification provided an additional incentive to meet this goal. Establishing a process that includes the development and distribution of a SCP’s within the electronic medical record (EMR) is necessary to improve on the completion of SCP’s and to improve the utilization of surveillance tests in cancer survivors. We describe the process developed at a free-standing NCI cancer center to meet the standard of SCP provision to all cancer patients. Methods: A multi-disciplinary subcommittee of the Cancer Committee was designated to develop the overall strategic plan for the implementation of this standard. It met with disease teams to facilitate a treatment summary from Cancer Registry data, identify patient reported symptoms using a self report tablet (SupportScreen). Electronic care plans were created using survivorship research program templates and ASCO framework for each disease site team. The disease team Nurse Care Coordinator inputs information into the eSCP. Results: Templates have been established within the EMR in the documents section under survivorship care plan title. These can be initiated and modified when the Nurse Care Coordinator chooses to start them. The disease teams have established their time points for SCP presentation to their patients. Using the cancer registry to provide data related to staging, treatments and genetic testing has helped minimize development time. Individual survivor’s concerns will be reflected in patient reports and physician symptom documentation. This eSCP completion process is a pilot program within the breast cancer disease team and will be expanded to include patients with head & neck and hematologic malignancies with a goal of including all patients by mid 2016. Conclusions: The goal of improving survivorship care coordination and compliance with surveillance guidelines is challenging. Maximizing available interdisciplinary resources has helped to create a viable Survivorship Care plan at our institution.


2011 ◽  
Vol 7 (2) ◽  
pp. 70-75 ◽  
Author(s):  
Erin E. Hahn ◽  
Patricia A. Ganz

This study looks at four Los Angeles–based cancer survivorship programs and finds that the Institute of Medicine–recommended survivorship care plan document can be successfully adapted for use in varied settings to inform and educate both patients and providers.


2011 ◽  
Vol 29 (15_suppl) ◽  
pp. 6117-6117 ◽  
Author(s):  
C. T. Stricker ◽  
L. A. Jacobs ◽  
A. DeMichele ◽  
A. Jones ◽  
B. C. Risendal ◽  
...  

2012 ◽  
Vol 30 (15_suppl) ◽  
pp. 6073-6073
Author(s):  
Talya Salz ◽  
Mary S. McCabe ◽  
Victoria Susana Blinder ◽  
Elena B. Elkin ◽  
Margaret Kemeny ◽  
...  

6073 Background: We assessed colorectal cancer (CRC) survivors’ needs and preferences for information to guide development of a survivorship care plan. Methods: We conducted a survey of survivors treated for stage I-III CRC at two hospitals in New York City. Participants completed treatment 6-24 months before the interview and had not received a survivorship care plan. We evaluated whether survivors knew their basic treatment history, whether they understood ongoing risks, and their preferences for receiving survivorship information. Results: 175 CRC survivors completed the survey between June 2010 and November 2011. Survivors generally remembered basic information about their diagnosis and treatment: 88% accurately reported the location of their cancer; 95-100% accurately reported whether they had surgery, chemotherapy, or radiation; and 90-95% correctly reported the completion date (within 6 months) for each treatment. Survivors knew less about the risks of local and distant recurrences (69% and 77% correct, respectively) and of getting another CRC compared to unaffected individuals (40% correct). More than three quarters of participants received information about their cancer, their treatment history, ongoing oncology visits, and testing to be done by the oncologist (77-86% across categories). Across these categories of information, 93-99% of those who received information found it useful. Most survivors did not receive information about symptoms to report to their doctors, returning to work, financial issues, or legal issues (59-95% across categories); but those who received this information found it useful (67%-100% across categories). Conclusions: Even without receiving survivorship care plans, CRC survivors generally understood their cancer diagnosis and treatment. However, many lacked knowledge of ongoing risks, prevention, and nonmedical survivorship issues. Most survivors found the survivorship information they received useful. The greatest benefit of survivorship care plans to survivors may not be summarizing past care as much as helping survivors understand their risks and plan for the future.


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