Practice Variation in Skin Cancer Treatment and Follow-Up Care: A Dutch Claims Database Analysis

Validation of Claims Data for Absorbing Pads as a Measure for Urinary Incontinence after Radical Prostatectomy, a National Cross-Sectional Analysis

The use of healthcare insurance claims data for urinary incontinence (UI) pads has the potential to serve as an objective measure for assessing post-radical prostatectomy UI rates, but its validity for this purpose has not been established. The aim of this study is to correlate claims data with Patient Reported Outcome Measures (PROMs) for UI pad use. Patients who underwent RP in the Netherlands between September 2019 and February 2020 were included. Incontinence was defined as the daily use of ≥1 pad(s). Claims data for UI pads at 12-15 months after RP were extracted from a nationwide healthcare insurance database in the Netherlands. Participating hospitals provided PROMS data. In total, 1624 patients underwent RP. Corresponding data of 845 patients was provided by nine participating hospitals, of which 416 patients were matched with complete PROMs data. Claims data and PROMs showed 31% and 45% post-RP UI (≥1 pads). UI according to claims data compared with PROMs had a sensitivity of 62%, specificity of 96%, PPV of 92%, NPV of 75% and accuracy of 81%. The agreement between both methods was moderate (κ = 0.60). Claims data for pads moderately align with PROMs in assessing post-prostatectomy urinary incontinence and could be considered as a conservative quality indicator.

Quality indicators for systemic anticancer therapy services: a systematic review of metrics used to compare quality across healthcare facilities

PURPOSE

The number of systemic anticancer therapy (SACT) regimens has expanded rapidly over the last decade. There is a need to ensure quality of SACT delivery across cancer services and systems in different resource settings to reduce morbidity, mortality, and detrimental economic impact at individual and systems level. Existing literature on SACT focuses on treatment efficacy with few studies on quality or how SACT is delivered within routine care in comparison to radiation and surgical oncology.

METHODS

Systematic review was conducted following PRISMA guidelines. EMBASE and MEDLINE were searched and handsearching was undertaken to identify literature on existing quality indicators (QIs) that detect meaningful variations in the quality of SACT delivery across different healthcare facilities, regions, or countries. Data extraction was undertaken by two independent reviewers.

RESULTS

This review identified 63 distinct QIs from 15 papers. The majority were process QIs (n = 55, 87.3%) relating to appropriateness of treatment and guideline adherence (n = 28, 44.4%). There were few outcome QIs (n = 7, 11.1%) and only one structural QI (n = 1, 1.6%). Included studies solely focused on breast, colorectal, lung, and skin cancer. All but one studies were conducted in high-income countries.

CONCLUSIONS

The results of this review highlight a significant lack of research on SACT QIs particularly those appropriate for resource-constrained settings in low- and middle-income countries. This review should form the basis for future work in transforming performance measurement of SACT provision, through context-specific QI SACT development, validation, and implementation.

Time to reconsider skin cancer-related follow-up visits

BCC, cSCC and melanoma have very intense follow-up schedules, which are mostly based on expert opinion and on recurrence rates. We found that as the incidence of skin cancer rises it is followed by a three-to-eightfold larger number of follow-up consultations, depending on the type of skin cancer, which will seriously impact dermatological care capacity. A reconsideration and further evaluation of the follow-up schedules will be necessary to keep dermatological care accessible to all patients.

Implementing structured pathology reporting protocol for non-melanocytic skin cancers: practical considerations

Non-melanocytic skin cancers (NMSCs) account for five times the incidence of all other cancers combined and cost US $6 billion annually. These are the most frequent specimens encountered in community pathology practice in many Western countries. Lack of standardised structured pathology reporting protocols (SPRPs) can result in omission of critical information or miscommunication leading to suboptimal patient management. The lack of standardised data has significant downstream public health implications, including insufficient data for reliable development of prognostic tools and health-economy planning. The Royal College of Pathologists of Australasia has developed an NMSC SPRP. A multidisciplinary expert committee including pathologists, surgeons, dermatologists, and radiation and medical oncologists from high volume cancer centres was convened. A systematic literature review was performed to identify evidence for including elements as mandatory standards or best practice guidelines. The SPRP and accompanying commentary of evidence, definitions and criteria was peer reviewed by external stakeholders. Finally, the protocol was revised following feedback and trialled in multiple centres prior to implementation. Some parameters utilised clinically for determining management and prognosis including tumour depth, lymphovascular invasion or distance to the margins lack high level evidence in NMSC. Dermatologists, surgeons, and radiation oncologists welcomed the SPRP. Pathologists indicated that the variety of NMSC specimens ranging from curettes to radical resections as well as significant differences in the biological behaviour of different tumours covered by the NMSC umbrella made use of a single protocol difficult. The feedback included that using a SPRP for low risk NMSC was neither clinically justified nor compensated adequately by the Australian Medicare Reimbursement Schedule. Following stakeholder feedback, the SPRP implementation was restricted to excision specimens of head and neck NMSC; and low-risk NMSC, such as superficial basal cell carcinoma, were excluded. Implementing NMSC SPRP fulfils an unmet clinical need. Unlike other cancers, NMSCs generate a range of specimen types and are reported in a wide range of pathology practices. Limiting use of SPRP to NMSC at higher risk of progression and providing formatted templates for easy incorporation into laboratory information systems were essential to successful deployment. In the future, further consideration should be given to implementing the SPRP to include all relevant specimens, including non-head and neck and low-risk NMSC specimens.

A nationwide study of the incidence and trends of first and multiple basal cell carcinoma in the Netherlands and prediction of future incidence

BACKGROUND

Basal cell carcinoma (BCC) is the most frequently diagnosed malignancy worldwide and an ever increasing annual incidence is observed. However, nationwide registries of BCCs are very rare and often extrapolation of the data was necessary to estimate the absolute number of diagnoses. Since September 2016, all histopathologically confirmed BCCs are registered in the Netherlands, due to developments in automatic notification and import in the Netherlands cancer registry. This offers the unique possibility to assess the nationwide population-based incidence of first and multiple BCC.

OBJECTIVES

The current study aims to assess nationwide incidence and trends of first and multiple BCC in the Netherlands and to predict incidence rates up to 2029.

METHODS

All patients with histopathologically confirmed BCC between 2001 and 2019 were selected from the population-based Netherlands Cancer Registry. Age-standardized incidence rates were calculated and trends were analyzed with use of the estimated annual percentage change. Prediction of BCC incidence rates up to 2029 was based on a regression model.

RESULTS

In total, 601,806 patients were diagnosed with a first BCC over the period 2001-2019. The age-standardized incidence rates for both men and women with a first BCC increased over these years from 158 to 304 and 124 to 274 per 100,000 person-years, respectively. For male and female patients aged between 30-39 years, decreases in annual incidences of -3.6% and -3.0% were found in recent years, respectively. For patients aged 50 years or older an ever increasing trend was found. A quarter of the patients with a first primary BCC developed one or more subsequent BCCs within three years. Increases in incidence of 30.4% (male) and 25.3% (female) is expected in the next 10 years.

CONCLUSIONS

BCC incidence doubled over the past decades. Trends seemed to stabilize in recent years for patients aged below 50 years. This might be a first sign of a decreasing trend. The incidence keeps rising in patients aged 50 years and older. In the next decade a further increase in BCC incidence is expected.