A pilot program at NYU Langone is using telemedicine to match eligible lung cancer patients with supportive care physicians at Perlmutter Cancer Center.
The program allows cancer patients to connect with a physician that can assess their goals, help them manage pain and other symptoms, and provide nutrition services, emotional counseling, integrative health, advance care planning, and mind-body services, according to an Oct. 11 blog post from the hospital.
"We know for a fact that early supportive care intervention in cancer, and especially lung cancer, is better for patients and leads to better outcomes," said Abraham Chachoua, MD, director of the Lung Cancer Center. "With this pilot program, we are trying to bridge the digital divide that exists for our medically underserved patients and provide the opportunity for them to receive supportive oncology services that might otherwise not be available to them."
Since NYU Langone Health's Perlmutter Cancer Center—Sunset Park does not yet have supportive care physicians on-site, this program allows patients, who consent to supportive care, to connect to a Perlmutter Cancer Center physician via telemedicine.
For patients who don't have access to an internet-connected device, NYU Langone provides them with one.
"Patients with lung cancer in Sunset Park are getting virtual supportive care because we provide iPads for them during their chemotherapy treatments," Dr. Chachoua said. "Nevertheless, we hope to have supportive care doctors on-site in the next year."