Oncology Experts Share Essential Actions to Achieve a Positive Impact on Patient Care in the Integrated Healthcare Environment

ROCKVILLE, Md. – The U.S. healthcare industry is undergoing unprecedented consolidation and integration that is having an impact on all stakeholders—health systems, hospitals, private practices, providers, payers, and most important, patients and their families. Hospital systems are merging, hospitals are purchasing provider practices, and the insurance industry is undergoing what some are calling “merger madness.” By 2025, it is likely that the U.S. cancer care delivery system will look completely different as programs and providers find themselves working in new ways with new partners.

To address this trend and to suggest steps toward a future path that ensures improved patient care within this changing environment, the Association of Community Cancer Centers (ACCC) has released a white paper, “What Will It Take? Five Essential Actions to Achieve a Positive Impact on Patient Care in the Integrated Healthcare Environment,” at its upcoming 32nd National Oncology Conference in Portland, Oregon, Oct. 21-23.

The five essential actions for achieving a positive impact on patient care within the next decade are:

• Aligning stakeholders and requiring accountability
• Defining quality in a value-based reimbursement system and providing access to quality care
• Using non-traditional delivery systems (telehealth) and providers (primary care physicians and non-physician providers) to deliver cancer care
• Integrating the use of Big Data to drive treatment decisions
• Moving to patient-directed care in which the patient is at the center of all decisions and systemic change

“Increased integration will impact all aspects of an organization’s cancer care delivery — cultural, operational, clinical, and financial,” said ACCC President, Steven D’Amato, BSPharm, BCOP. “Our focus in this newly integrated environment is to provide education for hospital systems and physician practices on how to offer the best collaborative oncology care in a seamless way for patients.”

The white paper stems from discussion at the ACCC third annual Institute for the Future of Oncology Forum held in June 2015, and includes input from oncologists, cancer program and practice executives, and patient advocate organizations on essential actions for improving patient care within the next 10 years. The essential actions identified will be crucial to develop an oncology care system where both traditional and non-traditional providers work collaboratively to use all available knowledge and provide personalized cancer care that meets patient needs.

The white paper was released during a conference session on “Advancing Quality — From Oncology Medical Homes to Integrated Delivery” that took place on Thursday, Oct. 22. The session, chaired by Mr. D’Amato, focused on infrastructure needs for cancer programs and practices to succeed in the more integrated delivery system of the future.

To receive a copy of the white paper, please contact Lori Gardner at lgardner@accc-cancer.org. To find out more about the National Oncology Conference, visit www.accc-cancer.org/oncologyconference.