Telemedicine in Community Cancer Care: How Technology Helps Patients With Cancer Navigate a Pandemic.

COVID-19 places unprecedented demands on the oncology ecosystem. The extensive pressure of managing health care during the pandemic establishes the need for rapid implementation of telemedicine. Across our large statewide practice of 640 practitioners at 221 sites of service, an aggressive multidisciplinary telemedicine strategy was implemented in March by coordinating and training many different parts of our healthcare delivery system. From March to September, telemedicine grew to serve 15%-20% of new patients and 20%-25% of established patients, permitting the practice to implement safety protocols and reduce volumes in clinic while continuing to manage the acute and chronic care needs of our patient population. We surveyed practice leaders, queried for qualitative feedback, and established 76% were satisfied with the platform. The common challenges for patients were the first-time use and technology function, and patients were, in general, grateful and happy to have the option to visit their clinicians on a telemedicine platform. In addition to conducting new and established visits remotely, telemedicine allows risk assessments, avoidance of hospitalization, family education, psychosocial care, and improved pharmacy support. The implementation has limitations including technical complexity; increased burden on patients and staff; and broadband access, particularly in rural communities. For telemedicine to improve as a solution to enhance the longitudinal care of patients with cancer, payment coverage policies need to continue after the pandemic, technologic adoption needs to be easy for patients, and broadband access in rural areas needs to be a policy priority. Further research to optimize the patient and clinician experience is required to continue to make progress.

Telemedicine for cancer care: implementation across a multicenter community oncology practice.

PURPOSE: To describe onboarding and utilization of telemedicine across a large statewide community oncology practice and to evaluate trends, barriers, and opportunities in care delivery during the coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic. METHODS: We describe telemedicine onboarding and utilization across a statewide oncology practice, covering 221 sites of service and more than 650 practitioners. We describe qualitatively the onboarding process of a diverse set of administrative, technical, and clinical partners. We describe quantitatively utilization throughout the practice. We describe a survey conducted to enlighten barriers and opportunities for optimal utilization. RESULTS: Multistakeholder education was directed to clinical teams, administrative and technical support staff, and patients through webinars and team meetings. Utilization was high from April through October 2020, representing 15% to 20% of new-patient visits and 20% to 25% of established-patient visits. In a survey offered to all clinicians, 96% of respondents indicated they are using telemedicine, with 33% using it for more than 25% of patient encounters. Among respondents, 59% reported that the use of telemedicine helps expedite diagnosis and treatment more than seeing patients in person in the clinic, 55% of respondents managed urgent issues by telemedicine, 80% believed that patients benefited From urgent assessment by telemedicine, and 57% believed an emergency department visit or a hospitalization was avoided because of a telemedicine visit. Most clinicians reported that patients enjoy benefits of telemedicine because of decreased exposure risk, decreased transportation requirements, and ease of including caregivers in the visit with the treating clinician. The most common barriers to patients accessing telemedicine were technical challenges and broadband access. Despite this, less than 5% of respondents routinely use telephone-only communication, as most typically use bimodal audio/video communication. Many clinicians have expansion ideas on how telemedicine can further expand the longitudinal care delivery for our patient population. CONCLUSIONS: Telemedicine can be implemented successfully across a large statewide oncology practice and service a high volume of patients. Clinicians utilize telemedicine for new and established patients with minimal dysfunction. Clinicians believe patients benefit From telemedicine For new, established, and urgent care visits. Broadband access functionality should be explored to optimally serve our patient population.