Coordination of care in breast cancer survivors: an overview.

The number of breast cancer survivors in the United States is increasing. With longer survival, there has been an increase in the complexity and duration of posttreatment care. Multidisciplinary care teams are needed to participate across the broad spectrum of issues that breast cancer survivors face. In this setting, the need for well-established patterns of communication between care providers is increasingly apparent. We have created a multidisciplinary approach to the management of breast cancer survivors to improve communication and education between providers and patients. This approach could be extended to the care and management of survivors of other types of cancer.