Sandra L. Wong, MD, of the Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center, summarizes three abstracts for which she was the discussant. The topics were rates of surgical site infections, an online resource for hospital cancer surgery volumes, and barriers to oncology appointments at comprehensive cancer centers. (Abstracts 171, 172, 55)
Joseph V. Simone, MD, of the Simone Consulting Company, reflects on the prospects for the future of safety and quality.
Joseph O. Jacobson, MD, of the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, discusses a session he co-chaired on the thorny questions of how best to improve cancer care.
Kerin B. Adelson, MD, of the Yale Cancer Center, discusses an electronic decision support tool to capture staging data. This information allows automated reports for clinical trial screening, outcomes analysis, quality comparisons, and reporting. (Abstract 151)
Ethan Basch, MD, of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, summarizes a session he chaired on the burgeoning use of patient-reported outcomes and wearable sensors in clinical practice and research.
Lee N. Newcomer, MD, of the UnitedHealth Group, gives his perspective on how to assess quality in the age of precision medicine.
