James D. Murphy, MD, of the University of California, San Diego, discusses the possible reasons for a decline in long-term opioid use in patients with cancer, even as short-term use is rising, as well as the racial and socioeconomic disparities of opioid use in this population (Abstract 187).
Veena Shankaran, MD, of the Seattle Cancer Care Alliance, discusses study findings from a national sample of patients with metastatic colorectal cancer who are on systemic therapy. A year into their treatment, nearly three out of four patients had major financial hardships despite access to health insurance coverage (Abstract 137).
Melissa K. Accordino, MD, of Columbia University Medical Center, discusses findings showing nearly half of the patients with breast cancer treated at an academic center in New York City experienced a change or delay in their workup or treatment during the COVID-19 pandemic. Race and socioeconomic factors played a significant role (Abstract 88).
Marie A. Flannery, PhD, and Eva Culakova, PhD, both of the University of Rochester, discuss a geriatric assessment tool that helped reduce symptomatic toxicities, as measured by Patient-Reported Outcomes Common Terminology Criteria for Adverse Events (Abstract 138).
Cardinale B. Smith, MD, PhD, of the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, discusses results of a pilot study suggesting dedicated lay staff members, who facilitated admissions and discharges for patients with cancer across care settings, could improve health-care utilization, quality, and the patient experience (Abstract 6).
Katherine Enright, MD, MPH, of Trillium Health Partners in Ontario, discusses a model of quality improvement, which potentially could be adapted across health systems to improve oral systemic cancer care (Abstract 184).
