Academic–Community Oncology Partnerships Improve Access: Anasuya Gunturi, MD, PhD

Collaboration between community and academic institutions has the potential to enhance patient care and lessen access burdens, which was the main focus of the Boston Regional Institute for Value-Based Medicine® (IVBM) panel discussion on bringing academic best practices into a community setting.

The IVBM event, held on February 5, featured numerous oncology specialists, including Anasuya Gunturi, MD, PhD, chief and medical director at Lowell General Hospital. In an interview with The American Journal of Managed Care®, Gunturi outlined common practices at her institution to promote academic and community provider collaboration that benefits their patients.

She explained that Massachusetts General Hospital recently started caring for patients with hematologic malignancies, who after treatment required a lot of support that was taxing to access.

“We had the leaders from the transplant team and me as the leader of my community hospital oncology team, and we talked about it, and we said, ‘OK, what do these patients need, and how do you want us to do this?’” Gunturi explained. “[Our academic partners] were able to give us very specific guidance as to how to take care of these patients, and then we were able to implement it.”

Furthermore, Gunturi emphasized the necessary trust between community and academic providers, especially for patient continuity of care.

“I, as a clinician in the community, have to trust that the academic person that I'm going to send my patients to—perhaps for a second opinion or for certain treatments that I'm not able to do in the community—is going to respect the care that I'm giving to my patients and comanage these patients and not just scoop them up and cut me out of the care team,” she said.

The trust pipeline works both ways, Gunturi explained. She has to trust her academic partners, and they have to trust her.

“I always reach out personally, try to figure out who the patient is going to be seeing, and, either through a phone call or an email, introduce myself and the scenario that my patient is in,” she said. “And with the hope that after they see the patient, they then reply and continue that conversation.”