There are more than 18 million cancer survivors living in the U.S., but few primary care providers know how to care for this patient group. To close the gap, Houston-based the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center is launching a survivorship training program for primary care providers.
"Cure is no longer enough," Michael Roth, MD, medical director of MD Anderson's survivorship program and co-director of the AYA Oncology Program, told Becker's. "We have a duty to care for [cancer survivors], not just during treatment but after. Most survivors in this country are not getting any survivorship care. We need all providers to consider our patients’ specific risks, treatments they received, and how this impacts their future health and quality of life. Primary care providers are the right folks to provide this care, and we in the oncology world need to do a better job equipping them to care for this large and growing population."
Often, cancer survivorship is not within primary care training or knowledge base, Dr. Roth said. That's where the AYA Oncology Program comes in. The program is split into three tiers of education. The first tier consists of a few online modules that can be taken at any time. The second tier involves completing the initial modules, plus additional modules with knowledge assessments. The highest tier includes completing all modules and participating in nine monthly, live, case-based sessions.
The official program will launch soon in Texas. In the next six to nine months, MD Anderson will expand the program across the state, then within one to two years, they plan to expand it nationally. During this time, the online modules will be open to providers across the nation.
"We're trying to make survivorship care more accessible to all," Dr. Roth said. "MD Anderson is a world leader in cancer care, and we need to ensure that survivorship care is on equivalent footing, ensuring all patients know we're here to treat them through and beyond their cancer with optimal approaches."
Dr. Roth is a pediatric oncologist by training and also director of the hospital's childhood cancer survivorship programs. He has cared for many young cancer patients who will live on for seven or eight decades post-treatment.
"Cancer treatment seems to speed up the aging process, leading to chronic health conditions and cancers typically seen in older patients appearing much earlier," he said. "This is why survivorship care is so important; we need to prevent these health issues with all available tools."
Dr. Roth said the pilot program helped primary care providers feel comfortable caring for cancer survivors. PCPs are responsible for screening for subsequent cancers and chronic health conditions associated with treatment.
Currently, three staff members run the program, but the team is expected to expand with the project.