Surgeon and Care Team Network Measures and Timely Breast Cancer Treatment

Area of Science:

• Oncology
• Health Services Research
• Network Science

Background:

• Cancer treatment delays are linked to poorer patient outcomes.
• Physician patient-sharing network characteristics may influence treatment timeliness but are understudied.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the association between surgeon and care team network measures and breast cancer treatment delays.
• To understand how physician network structures affect the timing of surgical and adjuvant therapies.

Main Methods:

• Cross-sectional study using Medicare claims data (2017-2020).
• Analysis of patient-sharing networks for surgeons and care teams.
• Assessment of surgeon linchpin status and care density in relation to treatment delays.

Main Results:

• High preoperative care density (team familiarity) was associated with lower odds of surgical delay (OR, 0.58).
• Linchpin surgeon status was linked to higher odds of adjuvant delay (OR, 1.30).
• High and medium postoperative care density were associated with lower odds of adjuvant delay (ORs 0.77 and 0.85, respectively).

Conclusions:

• Physician network characteristics, specifically team familiarity, are associated with timely cancer treatment.
• System-level interventions targeting physician networks may help reduce treatment delays.