Implementation of pancreas cancer care coordinator: Improved care coordination and patient retention.
Year: 2025
Type: conference-abstract
Abstract: 374 Background: Pancreatic cancer is an aggressive disease which requires comprehensive care. Complex treatment paradigms require coordination of care amongst medical oncologists, radiation oncologists, and surgeons. As part of this multidisciplinary care plan, referrals are also made to supportive care, genetics, social work, and nutrition, which have been shown to improve patient outcomes. Delays in therapy due to treatment toxicities present scheduling challenges for care coordination. This is particularly true when patients receive at least one component of their care outside the institution. We hypothesized that implementation of a pancreatic cancer care coordinator (PCCC) will improve the coordination of appointment scheduling, improve patient information flow, and increase patient retention through frequent PCCC communication. Methods: An IRB-exempt retrospective review included all multidisciplinary pancreatic cancer patients who were tracked by the PCCC (calendar year 2024). The PCCC tracked all non-metastatic patients receiving treatment. This included both patients receiving chemotherapy at the same or outside facility. The PCCC gathered up to date medical records and contacted the patients for updates on their care journey. The PCCC ensured all referrals and follow up appointments were appropriately scheduled along standardized workflows, aligning with patient preferences and treatment dates. Results: During the 2024 calendar year, 277 non-metastatic patients were seen at our institution. Of those, 81% (n = 223) were retained for additional services (surveillance, radiation, surgery, and/or ancillary services). This is compared to 70% of non-metastatic patients in the previous years. Of the 277 non-metastatic patients, 88% (n = 245) received multidisciplinary care and required PCCC tracking. 55% of these patients (n = 135) had chemotherapy at an outside facility, requiring more extensive PCCC coordination. This included 4 calls/emails made to patients and 3 records requests to outside facilities weekly. During this time, 93 individual instances of scheduling issues due to delays in treatment and patient preferred dates were rectified. Conclusions: The addition of the PCCC has increased care coordination, particularly for patients receiving chemotherapy outside of the institution. Alerts to delays in treatment care plans due to unexpected treatment toxicities and hospitalizations along with increased communication led to proactive resolution of scheduling issues and therefore greater adherence to institutional treatment pathways. Additionally, non-metastatic retention rates rose from 70% to 81%. Future work includes expanding this position to other disease sites.
Source: JCO Oncology Practice
Institution: Moffitt Cancer Center
Language: English
Subfield: Oncology
Field: Medicine
Domain: Health Sciences
Open Access status: bronze
OpenAlex ID: W4414893272
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