Challenges
Despite the progress made at VACHS, there are significant challenges to meeting the CoC revised standard 3.3, which requires that 25% of patients treated with a stage I, II, or III cancer receive a Cancer Survivor Treatment Summary at an in-person visit in 2016. These relate primarily to multiple competing demands on provider time. In addition, 63.5% of patients who had been provided with a SCP at an in-person visit and responded to a satisfaction survey said they had not received the SCP. More research is needed to inform practice changes to optimize ongoing education and post-treatment care for veterans who are cancer survivors.
Conclusion
VA cancer centers seeking to ACoS CoC accreditation are required to provide a written summary of cancer treatment and plan for survivorship care to patients
diagnosed with at stage I, II, or III malignancy and treated at their facility. This requirement necessitates a significant ongoing investment in clinician and administrative workload to comply with the standard. The Comprehensive Cancer Center at VACHS, building on work by the SSIG, developed a concise note template in CPRS that enables oncology clinicians to create a treatment summary for each patient who meets criteria. During this process, VACHS has developed resources that may be useful to other VA cancer centers who are working to create this process. Clinicians interested in trialing the VACHS Cancer Survivor Treatment Summary template are encouraged to contact the author for additional information.
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Author disclosures
The author reports no actual or potential conflicts of interest with regard to this article.
Disclaimer
The opinions expressed herein are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Federal Practitioner, Frontline Medical Communications Inc., the U.S. Government, or any of its agencies.
Acknowledgments
This project was a team effort. The author thanks the following VACHS colleagues for their input and support for this project: Michal Rose, MD, cancer center director; Donna Connery, tumor registrar; Renee Midgett, former clinical applications coordinator; Robert Troy Nall, health systems specialist; Forms Committee; Clarice Grens, APRN; and Jessica Barber, PhD, clinical psychologist as well as Members of VA Survivorship special interest group.
