Advancing Care Coordination Between Cancer and Primary Care Teams for Complex Cancer Survivors

Cancer survivors with cardiovascular disease risk factors (complex cancer survivors) are a growing population and their morbidity and mortality risks are significant. A shared care model (when two or more clinicians of different specialties care for the same patient) is the optimal care delivery model for complex cancer survivors and has been shown to produce optimal comorbidity management when primary care is involved.

Results from our ongoing and recent research studies indicate that survivors managing chronic conditions should not be disconnected from their primary care team. Therefore, feasibility issues must be addressed using stakeholder-informed strategies to enhance the translational potential of shared care that aligns multiple stakeholders (i.e., cancer care team, patients, primary care teams) understandings of this paradigm of care and build team-based care capacities.

This study employs a design-for-dissemination, theory guided perspective, blending implementation science and care delivery conceptual frameworks--Exploration, Planning, Implementation, and Sustainment (EPIS) and Cancer Multi-team System (cMTS)--to understand and address the multi-level factors of implementing shared care in a health system. These perspectives will shape tailoring and implementation of Primary Care Connect (PC2), a health system intervention designed to align complex cancer survivors, healthcare team members, and health system implementation actors' understandings, capacities, and practices to promote the adoption of shared care delivery models for complex cancer survivors.

Using a hybrid type III effectiveness-implementation design this study aims to: (1) engage diverse primary care and health system stakeholders to tailor PC2 to maximize implementation strategies fit to the health system and primary care practice contexts; (2) conduct a randomized controlled trial (n=266 patients) to test the effectiveness of PC2 on primary care connection, chronic disease management, and patient-reported outcomes; and, (3) evaluate PC2 implementation using a mixed methods approach to inform sustainable usage of the intervention. Study results are poised to have a profound impact on the adoption of shared care delivery models throughout the U.S. to optimally mitigate complex cancer survivors CVD risks.

Inclusion criteria

• diagnosed with any of the following cancers [Stage I-III]: breast, prostate, urinary bladder, and endometrial in the past 6 months;
• being treated for cancer with curative intent;
• had initial patient visit at the cancer center in the last 3 months;
• are being treated for cancer with curative intent at the Rutgers Cancer Institute of New Jersey
• have ≥1 CVD risk factor (hypertension, hyperlipidemia or type II diabetes) prior to cancer diagnosis that requires medication management;
• currently receiving care from a primary care provider;
• Speak English or Spanish

Exclusion criteria

• had myocardial infarction or stroke within the previous 1 year;
• have heart failure with an ejection fraction <30%; (3) have stage IV-V chronic kidney disease (eGFR <30);
• or do not speak English or Spanish. Patients whose cancer progresses to metastatic disease during the course of the 18-month trial will be allowed to continue to participate unless they voluntarily withdraw