Utilization of an audit tool to evaluate accuracy of treatment summary and survivorship care plans

A quality review process was implemented to determine compliance with the requirement from the Commission on Cancer to use the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) template as the minimum data set for Treatment Summary and Survivorship Care Plans (TS/SCP) provided to cancer survivors.

TS/SCPs generated during 2017 (N = 1257) were audited for concordance with each of the 66 TS/SCP line items on ASCO's template. Descriptive statistics and chi-square statistics were used to examine line item concordance, overall and by services groups (survivorship vs. other oncology service). Mixed-effects logistic regression was used to estimate the effects of service delivery group on the concordance.

Institutional compliance with the ASCO template was very high; 76% of the 66 line items were present in at least 75% of the delivered TS/SCPs. There was a significantly higher rate of concordance for TS/SCPs provided by the survivorship service (83% vs. 66%, P = 0.006). TS/SCPs provided by the survivorship service were nearly twice as likely to be concordant with ASCO template (OR = 1.88, 95% CI = 1.77-2.00) compared to those by other service groups.

Use of the electronic medical record to auto-populate information was instrumental in achieving a high rate of concordance. Institutions should consider providing training to improve or maintain quality of these documents.

Ensuring that the information contained on the TS/SCP is consistently present is necessary for a high-quality survivorship visit between the clinician, PCP, and survivor and as a record of care for future health care encounters.