Dr Denalee O'Malley on Follow-Up Care for Cancer Survivors

Making financial sacrifices during treatment can have long-term effects on survivorship for patients with cancer, said Denalee O’Malley, PhD, LSW, instructor, Department of Family Medicine and Community Health, Rutgers Robert Wood Johnson Medical School.

Transcript

In your research, have you discovered trends that indicate which patients fare better after active cancer treatment is completed?

So, in my own research what I focus on often is the experience of cancer patients [who] have comorbid conditions. Also, I’ve done some work with longer-term survivors, and with longer-term survivors, [those] patients who have perceived to have had to make a financial sacrifice during the acute treatment experience can have longer term experiences of distress, psychological distress. So, I think the impact [on] finances at the acute phase can have a really enduring effect on someone’s experience over the long term.

Are payers doing enough to ensure that cancer survivors receive appropriate follow up care, and if not what needs to change?

So, I think that currently the evidence in survivorship is evolving as the population of cancer survivors is growing. I think that as more information is developed about risk stratifications, so which patients have the most complex long-term sequelae. Payers can really incentive providers coordinating that care and providing that care in a way that’s efficient but also effective, and I think that is improving the information evidence is improving over time and I think payers can incentive putting that evidence into practice.