QOL assessment integrated into the clinical care of cancer survivors to identify needs and direct care.

Abstract

6611 Background: Validated survey tools have been used to measure the quality of life (QOL) of patients treated for cancer, however, there are newer studies that have shown both an improvement in QOL, and improvement in overall survival using these tools. We integrated the Functional Assessment of Cancer Therapy – General Population (FACT-GP v.4) to direct the deployment of resources and interventions to improve the care of patients who have completed potentially curative therapy for cancer. Methods: This is an observational study of patients who received cancer therapy with curative intent in the last 18 months. The FACT-GP was administered by an RN via telephone. Patients contacted received and reviewed a Survivorship Care Plan (SCP) as defined by the American College of Surgeons Committee on Cancer. Patients who had a total score less than 60 on FACT-GP and/or had a score less than 12 on the Emotional Well-Being subscale (EWB) were considered high-risk and were referred to the Survivorship MDC for in-person evaluation. Results: From 10/1/2018 to 12/31/2018, 114 patients were referred to the cancer survivorship program. Of these, 64 (56%) patients had FACT-GP administered and were evaluated. 45 of these (70%) only completed the FACT-GP and received an SCP. 21 patients had a total score less than 60 and/or an EWB sub-score less than 12 and were identified as high-risk. 15 (72%) patients were seen in MDC, 4 (19%) patients were seen in conjunction with a scheduled appointment by the MDC team, 2 (9%) patients refused further evaluation. 66.7% of patients in the survivorship program were referred to Oncology Behavioral Health compared to 18.2% of all oncology patients. Survivorship patients in the cohort had a baseline utilization of the emergency department (ED) of 4.1% (10 of 241) from 1/1/2018 to 9/30/2018 and 0 (0 of 64) after the initiation of the intervention from 10/1/2018 to 12/31/2018. Conclusions: Integrating a validated QOL tool (FACT-GP) as a therapeutic intervention is feasible and may both identify needs and direct services for cancer survivors while possibly decreasing ED utilization. Clinical trial information: NCT03835052.