Addressing Barriers in Palliative Care for Rural and Underserved Communities

Thirty-two million Americans live in rural counties and have no access to multidisciplinary cancer care, and patients with cancer describe a greater number of unfavorable social determinants of health (SDoH), experience more serious financial hardship as well as greater symptom burden, and are more likely to die of cancer. Delivering effective symptom management may be achieved through adoption of a hub and spoke model, which connects rural community care sites with a cancer center. Modern technologies (electronic medical record and virtual telehealth), advanced practice provider care models, and engagement in symptom management clinical trials can extend more optimal care to connected rural sites. Pragmatic examples of addressing these care barriers include systematic and proactive assessment of SDoH, supported by navigation and social services, and telehealth-enabled palliative care (PC). In low- and middle-income countries, access to supportive cancer care services is very limited, especially in rural areas. Digital health interventions, primarily limited to apps, and community health workers (trained volunteer care providers) have successfully enabled vital symptom management services. Access to PC, considered a basic human right, is unfortunately not available in many parts of the world, especially in rural areas of not only low- and middle-income but also high-income countries. Multiple approaches to deliver effective symptom management have been described but need to be tailored to the respective local health care infrastructure, resources, culture, and social, economic, and political environment.