Jeff Hunnicutt, Chief Executive Officer at Highlands Oncology Group, shared a post on LinkedIn:
“There’s a common assumption that larger health systems deliver better cancer care. As more hospital-based programs present pressure to independent cancer care providers, it’s worth taking a closer look at that idea.
A new real-world study from a collaboration between the Community Oncology Alliance and Flatiron Health of nearly 100,000 patients found that those treated in independent community oncology practices had longer survival compared to national benchmarks. The difference was about 8 months for metastatic breast cancer and 2 months for lung cancer. The ‘why’ that surfaces in the data is very interesting.
When the data is adjusted, the gap narrows but doesn’t disappear. One of the clearest signals is that patients in community oncology settings are more likely to actually receive cancer-directed treatment.
That’s an important distinction, as access to care isn’t just about where you go, it’s about how quickly you get on therapy and how consistently you stay on it.”
Title: Quality of Care
Other articles featuring Jeff Hunnicutt on OncoDaily.