scholarly journals Moving Beyond Guidelines to Ensure High-Quality Cancer Care in the United States

2012 ◽  
Vol 8 (4) ◽  
pp. e67-e68 ◽  
Author(s):  
Karl Y. Bilimoria
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Cancer Care ◽  
The United States ◽  
High Quality ◽  
Quality Cancer Care

scholarly journals Delivering High-Quality and Affordable Care Throughout the Cancer Care Continuum

2013 ◽  
Vol 31 (32) ◽  
pp. 4151-4157 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ya-Chen Tina Shih ◽  
Patricia A. Ganz ◽  
Denise Aberle ◽  
Amy Abernethy ◽  
Justin Bekelman ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Cancer Care ◽  
Primary Care Physicians ◽  
New Technologies ◽  
Financial Burden ◽  
The United States ◽  
Institute Of Medicine ◽  
High Quality ◽  
Care Continuum ◽  
Quality Cancer Care ◽  
Cancer Care Continuum

The national cost of cancer care is projected to reach $173 billion by 2020, increasing from $125 billion in 2010. This steep upward cost trajectory has placed enormous an financial burden on patients, their families, and society as a whole and raised major concern about the ability of the health care system to provide and sustain high-quality cancer care. To better understand the cost drivers of cancer care and explore approaches that will mitigate the problem, the National Cancer Policy Forum of the Institute of Medicine held a workshop entitled “Delivering Affordable Cancer Care in the 21st Century” in October 2012. Workshop participants included bioethicists, health economists, primary care physicians, and medical, surgical, and radiation oncologists, from both academic and community settings. All speakers expressed a sense of urgency about the affordability of cancer care resulting from the future demographic trend as well as the high cost of emerging cancer therapies and rapid diffusion of new technologies in the absence to evidence indicating improved outcomes for patients. This article is our summary of presentations at the workshop that highlighted the overuse and underuse of screening, treatments, and technologies throughout the cancer care continuum in oncology practice in the United States.

American Society of Clinical Oncology Guidance Statement: The Cost of Cancer Care

2009 ◽  
Vol 27 (23) ◽  
pp. 3868-3874 ◽  
Author(s):  
Neal J. Meropol ◽  
Deborah Schrag ◽  
Thomas J. Smith ◽  
Therese M. Mulvey ◽  
Robert M. Langdon ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Health Care ◽  
Clinical Oncology ◽  
Cancer Care ◽  
Cost Effective ◽  
The United States ◽  
Cost Of Care ◽  
High Quality ◽  
American Society ◽  
The Cost

Advances in early detection, prevention, and treatment have resulted in consistently falling cancer death rates in the United States. In parallel with these advances have come significant increases in the cost of cancer care. It is well established that the cost of health care (including cancer care) in the United States is growing more rapidly than the overall economy. In part, this is a result of the prices and rapid uptake of new agents and other technologies, including advances in imaging and therapeutic radiology. Conventional understanding suggests that high prices may reflect the costs and risks associated with the development, production, and marketing of new drugs and technologies, many of which are valued highly by physicians, patients, and payers. The increasing cost of cancer care impacts many stakeholders who play a role in a complex health care system. Our patients are the most vulnerable because they often experience uneven insurance coverage, leading to financial strain or even ruin. Other key groups include pharmaceutical manufacturers that pass along research, development, and marketing costs to the consumer; providers of cancer care who dispense increasingly expensive drugs and technologies; and the insurance industry, which ultimately passes costs to consumers. Increasingly, the economic burden of health care in general, and high-quality cancer care in particular, will be less and less affordable for an increasing number of Americans unless steps are taken to curb current trends. The American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) is committed to improving cancer prevention, diagnosis, and treatment and eliminating disparities in cancer care through support of evidence-based and cost-effective practices. To address this goal, ASCO established a Cost of Care Task Force, which has developed this Guidance Statement on the Cost of Cancer Care. This Guidance Statement provides a concise overview of the economic issues facing stakeholders in the cancer community. It also recommends that the following steps be taken to address immediate needs: recognition that patient-physician discussions regarding the cost of care are an important component of high-quality care; the design of educational and support tools for oncology providers to promote effective communication about costs with patients; and the development of resources to help educate patients about the high cost of cancer care to help guide their decision making regarding treatment options. Looking to the future, this Guidance Statement also recommends that ASCO develop policy positions to address the underlying factors contributing to the increased cost of cancer care. Doing so will require a clear understanding of the factors that drive these costs, as well as potential modifications to the current cancer care system to ensure that all Americans have access to high-quality, cost-effective care.

Successful Strategies to Address Disparities: Insurer and Employer Perspectives

2020 ◽  
pp. 292-300
Author(s):  
Manali I. Patel ◽  
Richard Snyder ◽  
Otis Brawley
Keyword(s):  
Health Care ◽  
Health Care Providers ◽  
Low Income ◽  
Cancer Care ◽  
Care Delivery ◽  
The United States ◽  
Cancer Disparities ◽  
Care Providers ◽  
High Quality ◽  
Quality Cancer Care

Disparities in cancer have been documented for decades and continue to persist despite clinical advancements in cancer prevention, detection, and treatment. Disparate cancer outcomes continue to affect many populations in the United States and globally, including racial and ethnic minorities, populations with low income and education, and residents of rural areas or low socioeconomic neighborhoods, among others. Addressing cancer disparities requires approaches that are multilevel. Addressing social determinants of health, such as removing obstacles to health (e.g., poverty, discrimination, access to housing and education, jobs with fair pay, and health care) can reduce cancer disparities. However, to achieve cancer health equity, multilevel approaches are required to ensure that access to high-quality cancer care and equitable receipt of evidence-based services can reduce cancer disparities. Policy, health system interventions, and innovative delivery and health care coverage approaches by private and public payers, employer-based payers, and labor union organizations can assist in ensuring access to and receipt of high-quality cancer care while addressing the high costs of care delivery. Partnerships among patients, caregivers, employers, health care providers, and health care payers can make impactful changes in the way in which cancer care is delivered and, in turn, can assist in reducing cancer disparities.

Results of a multistate, multi-institution implementation of a multidisciplinary cancer conference quality measurement tool.

2021 ◽  
Vol 39 (28_suppl) ◽  
pp. 212-212
Author(s):  
Lijo Simpson ◽  
Anju Mathew ◽  
Robert Wojciechowski ◽  
Irina Hill
Keyword(s):  
Clinical Trials ◽  
Cancer Care ◽  
Quality Measurement ◽  
The United States ◽  
Quality Metrics ◽  
Lower Percentage ◽  
High Quality ◽  
Quality Cancer Care ◽  
Psychosocial Counselling ◽  
Virtual Platform

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.

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

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.

The Current Status of Hearing Care: Can We Change the Status Quo?

2005 ◽  
Vol 16 (07) ◽  
pp. 410-418 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dennis Van Vliet
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Hearing Loss ◽  
Care Delivery ◽  
The United States ◽  
Status Quo ◽  
Hearing Impaired ◽  
Current Status ◽  
High Quality ◽  
Scientific Database ◽  
The Status

The members of the profession of audiology often express concern that the services and products that have been developed to provide benefit to the hearing impaired are not sought after or delivered to the majority of those diagnosed with hearing loss. A critical look at the status quo of hearing care delivery in the United States is needed to verify this assumption and to develop strategies to improve the situation. A key concern is the lack of a comprehensive high-quality scientific database upon which to build continuous improvements in the effectiveness of the services and products that are provided to the hearing impaired.

scholarly journals Projections of the Cost of Cancer Care in the United States: 2010-2020

2011 ◽  
Vol 103 (2) ◽  
pp. 117-128 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. B. Mariotto ◽  
K. Robin Yabroff ◽  
Y. Shao ◽  
E. J. Feuer ◽  
M. L. Brown
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Cancer Care ◽  
The United States ◽  
The Cost

scholarly journals Racial disparities in guideline-concordant cancer care and mortality in the United States

2018 ◽  
Vol 3 (3) ◽  
pp. 221-229 ◽  
Author(s):  
Penny Fang ◽  
Weiguo He ◽  
Daniel Gomez ◽  
Karen E. Hoffman ◽  
Benjamin D. Smith ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Racial Disparities ◽  
Cancer Care ◽  
The United States

scholarly journals Managing Cancer Care During the COVID-19 Pandemic: Agility and Collaboration Toward a Common Goal

2020 ◽  
Vol 18 (4) ◽  
pp. 366-369 ◽  
Author(s):  
Masumi Ueda ◽  
Renato Martins ◽  
Paul C. Hendrie ◽  
Terry McDonnell ◽  
Jennie R. Crews ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Cancer Treatment ◽  
Cancer Care ◽  
Rapid Change ◽  
The United States ◽  
Shared Vision ◽  
Health Crisis ◽  
Global Pandemic ◽  
The Face ◽  
Snohomish County

The first confirmed case of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) in the United States was reported on January 20, 2020, in Snohomish County, Washington. At the epicenter of COVID-19 in the United States, the Seattle Cancer Care Alliance, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, and University of Washington are at the forefront of delivering care to patients with cancer during this public health crisis. This Special Feature highlights the unique circumstances and challenges of cancer treatment amidst this global pandemic, and the importance of organizational structure, preparation, agility, and a shared vision for continuing to provide cancer treatment to patients in the face of uncertainty and rapid change.

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