Quality Measure Concepts to Fill Gaps in Assessing Oral Oncolytic Adherence: A Multistakeholder Measurement Strategy

Abstract

Oral oncolytics affect the way oncology providers and their patients manage treatment. Patients with cancer often prefer oral therapies; however, at-home oral treatments may lead to increased non-adherence. Medication adherence quality measures have been used to monitor adherence for other medication types, but none exist for oral oncolytic therapies. A multistakeholder workgroup of oncology and quality measurement experts explored gaps in quality measures focused on oral oncolytic adherence and identified, prioritized, and refined measure concepts for further development. The workgroup prioritized measure gaps and developed measure concepts to assess priority factors impacting adherence: 1) screening for oral oncolytic medication access challenges and 2) bidirectional patient and provider communication regarding oral oncolytic treatment. They further prioritized development of medication persistence rate and discontinuation rate measures. The workgroup then identified action steps to advance the measure concepts, including evidence generation, agreement on best practices to support adherence, identification and use of patient-reported outcomes measures and tools, and integration of measurement data components into existing workflows. Pursuing these recommendations will require collaboration across stakeholders.