The cancer care delivery system in the U.S. faces an impending crisis. With the increase in the population of adults over the age of 65, the section with the most cancer diagnosis, and a shrinking cancer care workforce too small to care for all the new cases, the stress on the delivery system may negatively impact the quality of care cancer patients and their families receive. Additionally, cancer and its treatments have grown in complexity, and it is often difficult for clinicians and patients to formulate high-quality care plans quickly and precisely. As a result, decisions about cancer care are often not evidence-based.
The new IOM consensus report, “Delivering High-Quality Cancer Care: Charting a New Course for a System in Crisis” seeks to address these issues and offer recommendations to improve cancer care delivery. Larissa Nekhlyudov, MD, MPH, Associate Professor, served as an expert on the committee. The report recommends ways to respond to these challenges and improve cancer care delivery, including strengthening clinicians’ core competencies, shift to team-based models of care, and communicating more effectively with patients.
To address the major disparities minority groups, including low socio-economic status, racial/ethnic minorities and elderly, encounter when seeking access to cancer care, the federal government should develop national strategies utilizing community interventions to provide accessible care. The report states the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act is expected to make significant changes in accessibility and affordability of care, and that these issues will need to be revisited once its impact is known.
To read the entire report online click here.