Oncologists’ perspectives on post-cancer treatment communication and care coordination with primary care physicians

With the growing cancer survivor population identifying efficient and effective ways to promote co-management and shared survivorship care among oncologists and primary care physicians (PCPs) is an important area for new research. Based on survey data from over 300 oncologists in the USA, this study found that 75% of oncologists directly communicated with PCPs about post-treatment status and care recommendations but that their engagement is limited to one or two care needs. The most common co-management areas were addressing active smoking and the development of depression. An interesting finding was that the use of electronic communication technologies such as e-mail or integrated electronic health records was not associated with greater engagement by oncologists in co-managing survivors’ care. In fact, oncologists relied more on written correspondence to communicate with PCPs which may be a barrier to care coordination. Overall, the study highlights barriers and opportunities to improve post-treatment communication and care coordination between oncologists and PCPs.   Read the full article here.