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Multispecialty Coordination & Communication

Members of the ACCC IO Institute Executive Committee provide a multidisciplinary perspective on the importance of clinical and financial education to ensure immunotherapy patients receive the right testing at the right time. (features Mark Faries, MD; David Ettinger, MD, FACP, FCCP; Sanjiv Agarwala, MD; and Niesha Griffith, MS, RPH, FASHP

 

As more patients with cancer are treated with immunotherapy, members of the multidisciplinary cancer care team need to coordinate with non-oncology clinicians and specialists to ensure that patients receive optimal care. Side effects and toxicities from immunotherapy differ from those of traditional cytotoxic chemotherapy. To provide optimal care for patients treated with IO agents, education on recognition and management of immune-related adverse events (irAEs) must extend beyond the treating oncology team to include other providers who may see the patient, such as Emergency Department providers, hospitalists, primary care physicians. Management of specific immune-related side effects may require consultation with specialists (e.g., dermatologists, gastroenterologists, pulmonologists, and others). Thus care coordination and communication between the treating oncologist and other providers is paramount, including discussion and understanding of survivorship care planning for this patient population.

Meet the members of the IO Multispecialty Coordination & Communication Working Group.

Insights from this working group

  • Survivorship Care in the Era of Immuno-Oncology
    By Sigrun Hallmeyer, MD

    The positive impacts of IO therapy are remarkable, the era of IO has also ushered in new challenges. The efficacy of IO has led to a growing population of patients living with and beyond cancer. This has challenged original concepts of survivorship care, starting with the very definition of “survivorship.”

  • Managing IO Toxicities: Three Keys to Success
    By Sigrun Hallmeyer, MD

    Our busy community practice first began treating patients with immunotherapy through participating in the original ipilimumab clinical trials. We quickly realized that this new treatment paradigm would require us to create and implement an effective screening and management tool for our immunooncology (IO) patient population. 

  • Checkpoint Inhibitors for Those with Complex Medical Needs
    By Jarushka Naidoo, MB BCH

    Patients with complex medical needs, such as those with active autoimmune conditions, hepatitis B or C, and those receiving corticosteroids at baseline, may now receive these agents in the community. This raises important questions regarding safety, monitoring, and the likelihood of an anticancer response in these patients. 

  • Managing irAEs into Post-Treatment Survivorship
    By Brianna Hoffner, MSN, ANP-BC, AOCNP

    Immune-related adverse events (irAEs) are a complex category of symptoms driven by anti-cancer immunotherapy treatments. The use of IO has burgeoned since the approval of ipilimumab in 2011 through multiple approvals of anti-PD-1/PD-L1 drugs and most recently CAR-T therapies, and so too has the number of recognized irAEs.

  • Managing Survivorship Care After Immunotherapy
    By Regina Jacob, MD, MSCE

    Survivorship care planning requires communication, care coordination, and education. Since immune-related adverse events are still being discovered, these discussions are even more imperative.