From Theory to Practice: Implementation of Strategies to Reduce Acute Care Visits in Patients With Cancer

Patients with cancer frequently seek acute care as a result of complications of their disease and adverse effects of treatment. This acute care comes at high cost to the health care system and often results in suboptimal outcomes for patients and their caregivers. The Department of Health and Human Services has identified this as a gap in our care of patients with cancer and has called for quality-improvement efforts to reduce this acute care. We highlight the efforts of three centers-a community practice, an academic practice, and a cancer center-to reduce acute care for their patients. We describe the foundational principles, the practice innovation and implementation strategy, the initial results, and the lessons learned from these interventions. Each of the described interventions sought to integrate evidence-based best practices for reducing unplanned acute care. The first, a telephone triage system, led to 82% of calls being managed at home and only 2% being directed to an emergency department (ED) or hospital. The second, a 24-hour continuity clinic, led to a 26% reduction in ED utilization for patients with cancer. The third, a digital symptom monitoring and management program for high-risk patients on active treatment, led to a 17% reduction in ED presentations. There is a need for innovative care delivery models to improve the management of symptoms for patients with cancer. Future research is needed to determine the elements of these models with the greatest impact and how successful models can be scaled to other institutions.