Quality Care
The term “patient-reported outcome” has become ubiquitous in cancer care. Patient-reported outcomes (PROs) are still in the early stages of being integrated into quality assessment programs and routine clinical practice, but engaging patients through PROs can be an invaluable tool for assessing and improving the quality of symptom management, said Ethan M. Basch, MD, MSc, FASCO, Director, Cancer Outcomes Research Program, UNC Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, at the 2017 ASCO Quality Care Symposium. Read More ›
Establishing a Patient and Family Advisory Council for Quality (PFACQ) is one of the most direct routes to true patient-centered care, said Kate Niehaus, MBA, Chair, PFACQ, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center (MSKCC), New York City, at the 2017 ASCO Quality Care Symposium. Ms Niehaus discussed how PFACQs can be used as a mechanism for the patient’s voice. Read More ›
Web-based reporting in the outpatient community setting is not only feasible, but it can identify areas that need quality improvement initiatives, according to J. Russell Hoverman, MD, PhD, Vice President of Quality Programs, Texas Oncology, PA, Dallas. Read More ›
Secondary pathology review can significantly improve clinical outcomes through precise and accurate pathology diagnoses, according to Lavinia P. Middleton, MD, Professor, Department of Pathology, M.D. Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, TX. Read More ›
Patients with cancer increasingly wish to discuss costs with their oncologists, whose knowledge of treatment costs is limited. At the 2016 ASCO Quality Care Symposium, Nora B. Henrikson, PhD, MPH, of Group Health Research Institute, Seattle, WA, presented the results from a pilot project called OPT-IN, which aims at increasing clinician access to treatment prices in the clinical setting. Read More ›
Aggregated real-time data provide the tools to rapidly identify opportunities for the improvement of delivered services and for the initiation of quality improvement projects. Enhanced information technology capabilities, such as the iRiS software app, are foundational for practice transformation to future value-based cancer care models, according to John D. Sprandio, Sr, MD, Chief Physician, Consultants in Medical Oncology and Hematology (CMOH), Drexel Hill, PA. Read More ›
By Chase Doyle
Researchers in Chicago have developed a financial toxicity grading system based on clinically meaningful changes in health-related quality of life. According to lead investigator Jonas A. de Souza, MD, Assistant Professor of Medicine, University of Chicago, at the 2016 Cancer Survivorship Symposium, the tool has been validated in 2 separate cohorts of patients with cancer, with plans for a larger, prospective study underway. Read More ›