Survivorship Care Plan Use Lagging

VBCC - May 2014 Vol 5, No 4 - Survivorship
Rosemary Frei, MSc

Cancer centers are ramping up their efforts to create survivorship care plans (SCPs) for all of their patients. However, according to a new survey conducted in 2013, they still have far to go before January 1, 2015, when the American College of Surgeons Commission on Cancer (CoC) accreditation requirement of creating SCPs for all patients comes into effect (Birken SA, et al. J Cancer Educ. 2014 April 6. Epub ahead of print).

Of the 81 cancer centers that responded to the survey, approximately 51% indicated that they were not yet using SCPs but that they plan to use them. In addition, approximately 58% indicated that only 0% to 25% of their providers use SCPs, and approximately 47% noted that providers develop SCPs for 0% to 25% of the cancer survivors. The most common reason cited for implementing or using SCPs was the desire to comply with the CoC requirements.

“The question is, why develop a survivorship care plan if you don’t deliver it?” queried lead investigator Sarah A. Birken, PhD, MSPH, a postdoctoral fellow, Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. She noted several ways to interpret the survey results, “one is that because the CoC won’t audit survivors and PCPs [primary care providers], as long as the SCP is in the record, that is enough to meet the requirement. Another possibility is that cancer centers were just beginning to get ready for the January 2015 deadline when we conducted the survey, and if we repeated it now, we may find cancer programs are phasing in implementation, and many more are developing SCPs and delivering them to survivors and their providers.”

Approximately 45% of responders said that their centers were already using SCPs; however, 30% of them reported only an occasional use of the program and only 15% reported regular use of these plans. Membership in the National Cancer Institute’s Community Cancer Centers Program was associated with SCP use: members receive support to develop SCPs. Centers in academic programs also were more likely to use SCPs. Other significant results are shown in the Table.

“Taken together, our results suggest that support specifically intended to facilitate SCP use may promote SCP use more effectively than the nonspecific resources (eg, time, staff, training, money) that are commonly cited as determinants of SCP use,” concluded the investigators.

The team also conducted a subanalysis that confirmed the inconsistent use of SCPs across American cancer programs.

Dr Birken recently interviewed clinicians to determine what specific factors motivate them to use SCPs. She and her colleagues hope to use the results to develop programs to more effectively promote the use of SCPs.

Related Items
Multidisciplinary Teamwork Needed for Survivorship Care
Chase Doyle
VBCC - May 2016, Vol 7, No 4 published on June 3, 2016 in Survivorship
Decision Aids: Facilitating Communication with Cancer Survivors
Chase Doyle
VBCC - May 2016, Vol 7, No 4 published on June 3, 2016 in Survivorship
Poor Pregnancy Outcomes Seen in Women with Childhood-Onset SLE
Rosemary Frei, MSc
VBCR - April 2016, Vol 5, No 2 published on May 23, 2016 in Canadian Rheumatology Association Annual Meeting
Addressing Undertreatment of Patients with Gout Using EMR Data
Rosemary Frei, MSc
VBCR - April 2016, Vol 5, No 2 published on May 11, 2016 in Canadian Rheumatology Association Annual Meeting
Six-Month OBSErve Study Results Indicate Positive Effects of Belimumab in SLE
Rosemary Frei, MSc
VBCR - April 2016, Vol 5, No 2 published on May 8, 2016 in Canadian Rheumatology Association Annual Meeting
Improvements Needed in Access to Timely Quality Care
Rosemary Frei, MSc
VBCR - April 2016, Vol 5, No 2 published on May 7, 2016 in Canadian Rheumatology Association Annual Meeting
Orthotics Reduce Foot Pain in Juvenile Idiopathic Arthritis
Rosemary Frei, MSc
VBCR - April 2016, Vol 5, No 2 published on May 4, 2016 in Juvenile Idiopathic Arthritis
Improving Survivorship Care: A Patient Advocate's Prescription
Chase Doyle
VBCC - April 2016, Vol 7, No 3 published on April 21, 2016 in Survivorship
Integrating Survivorship Care in Oncology: A Conversation with Patricia Ganz, MD
Patricia Ganz, MD
VBCC - April 2016, Vol 7, No 3 published on April 21, 2016 in Survivorship
Anthem’s Response to Survivorship Medicine: Reimbursement Based on Care Coordination and Patient Outcomes
Chase Doyle
VBCC - March 2016, Vol 7, No 2 published on March 21, 2016 in Survivorship
Last modified: May 28, 2014
  • Rheumatology Practice Management
  • American Health & Drug Benefits
  • Value-Based Cancer Care
  • Value-Based Care in Myeloma
  • Value-Based Care in Neurology