Predictors of Urgent Cancer Care Clinic and Emergency Department Visits for Individuals Diagnosed with Cancer

Predictive factors of basic palliative and hospice care among patients with cancer visiting the emergency department in a Hungarian tertiary care center

Introduction

Patients with advanced cancer tend to utilize the services of the health care system, particularly emergency departments (EDs), more often, however EDs aren't necessarily the most ideal environments for providing care to these patients. The objective of our study was to analyze the clinical and demographic characteristics of advanced patients with cancer receiving basic palliative care (BPC) or hospice care (HC), and to identify predictive factors of BPC and HC prior to their visit to the ED, in a large tertiary care center in Hungary.

Methods

A retrospective, detailed analysis of patients receiving only BPC or HC, out of 1512 patients with cancer visiting the ED in 2018, was carried out. Sociodemographic and clinical data were collected via automated and manual chart review. Patients were followed up to determine length of survival. Descriptive and exploratory statistical analyses were performed.

Results

Hospital admission, multiple (≥4x) ED visits, and respiratory cancer were independent risk factors for receiving only BPC (OR: 3.10, CI: 1.90-5.04; OR: 2.97, CI: 1.50-5.84; OR: 1.82, CI: 1.03-3.22, respectively), or HC (OR: 2.15, CI: 1.26-3.67; OR: 4.94, CI: 2.51-9.71; OR: 2.07, CI: 1.10-3.91). Visiting the ED only once was found to be a negative predictive factor for BPC (OR: 0.28, CI: 0.18-0.45) and HC (OR: 0.18, 0.10-0.31) among patients with cancer visiting the ED.

Conclusions

Our study is the first from this European region to provide information regarding the characteristics of patients with cancer receiving BPC and HC who visited the ED, as well as to identify possible predictive factors of receiving BPC and HC. Our study may have relevant implications for health care planning strategies in practice.

The impact of an oncology urgent care center on health-care utilization

INTRODUCTION

Studies suggest that many emergency department (ED) visits and hospitalizations for patients with cancer may be preventable. The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services has implemented changes to the hospital outpatient reporting program that targets acute care in-treatment patients for preventable conditions. Oncology urgent care centers aim to streamline patient care. Our cancer center developed an urgent care center called the direct referral unit in 2011.

METHODS

We abstracted visits to our adjacent hospital ED and direct referral unit from January 2014 to June 2018. Patient demographics, cancer and visit diagnoses, visit charges, and 30-day therapy utilization were assessed.

RESULTS

An analysis of 13 114 visits demonstrated that increased direct referral unit utilization was associated with decreased monthly ED visits (P < .001). Common direct referral unit visit diagnoses were dehydration, nausea and vomiting, abdominal pain, and fever. Patients receiving active cancer treatment more frequently presented to the direct referral unit (P < .001). The average charges were $2221 for the direct referral unit and $10 261 for the ED.

CONCLUSION

The association of decreased ED visits with increased direct referral unit utilization demonstrates the potential for urgent care centers to reduce acute care visits. Many patients presented to our direct referral unit with preventable conditions, and these visits were associated with considerable cost savings, supporting its use as a cost-effective method to reduce acute care costs.

Development of a claims-based risk-scoring model to predict emergency department visits in older patients receiving anti-neoplastic therapy

This study developed and validated a risk-scoring model, with a particular emphasis on medication-related factors, to predict emergency department (ED) visits among older Korean adults (aged 65 and older) undergoing anti-neoplastic therapy. Utilizing national claims data, we constructed two cohorts: the development cohort (2016-2018) with 34,642 patients and validation cohort (2019) with 10,902 patients. The model included a comprehensive set of predictors: demographics, cancer type, comorbid conditions, ED visit history, and medication use variables. We employed the least absolute shrinkage and selection operator (LASSO) regression to refine and select the most relevant predictors. Out of 120 predictor variables, 12 were integral to the final model, including seven related to medication use. The model demonstrated acceptable predictive performance in the validation cohort with a C-statistic of 0.76 (95% CI 0.74-0.77), indicating reasonable calibration. This risk-scoring model, after further clinical validation, has the potential to assist healthcare providers in the effective management and care of older patients receiving anti-neoplastic therapy.

Evaluation of the Impact of the Urgent Cancer Care Clinic on Emergency Department Visits, Primary Care Clinician Visits, and Hospitalizations in Winnipeg, Manitoba

The urgent cancer care (UCC) clinic at CancerCare Manitoba (CCMB) opened in 2013 to provide care to individuals diagnosed with cancer and serious blood disorders experiencing complications from the underlying disorder or its treatment. This study examined the impact of the UCC clinic on other health care utilization in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. An interrupted time series study design was used to compare the rates of emergency department (ED) visits, primary care clinician (PCC) visits, and hospitalizations from 1 January 2010 to 31 December 2015. Rates of ED visits were also stratified by ED location, severity, and cancer type. We found a 6% (95% CI 1.00-1.13, p-value = 0.0389) increase in PCC visits, a 7% (95% CI 0.99-1.15, p-value = 0.0737) increase in hospitalizations, a 4% (95% CI 0.86-1.08, p-value = 0.5053) decrease in the rate of ED visits, and a 3% (95% CI 0.92-1.17, p-value = 0.5778) increase in the rate of ED visits during the UCC clinic hours after the UCC clinic opened. The implementation of the UCC clinic had minimal impact on health care utilization. Future work should examine the impact of the UCC clinic on other aspects of healthcare utilization (e.g., number of tests ordered and time spent waiting in CCMB's main clinics) and patient quality of life and patient and health care provider experience.

Acute home-based care for patients with cancer to avoid, substitute, and follow emergency department visits: a conceptual framework using Porter’s Five Forces

Background

Patients with cancer constitute a large and increasing segment of patients who receive unscheduled hospital-based care due to treatment-related symptoms and disease progression. The initial hospital-based touchpoint for these unscheduled hospitalizations is often the emergency department. Traditional models of emergency department and inpatient hospital-based care are saturated and incapable of scaling to accommodate the future, increased needs projected for this population. New models of care are necessary to address this gap. Acute home-based care is a promising tool potentially providing patient-centric, efficient care to eligible patients.

Methods

We applied Porter’s Five Forces framework that addresses the bargaining power of buyers and suppliers, threat of substitutes and new entrants, and industry rivalries plus the sixth force of regulation to clarify the factors that will promote or challenge the adoption of a home-based cancer care referral model before or following emergency department visits. Exploring this framework provides insights into the complexities of scaling an acute home-based cancer care model and highlights ways for health systems including hospitals, emergency departments, physician groups, and individual emergency physicians and oncologists to optimize their roles in this emerging model of care.

Results

We found that current workforce shortages, as well as workflow, infrastructure, and regulatory complexities, pose major challenges that unless carefully addressed may restrict the growth of acute home-based cancer care. Additional uncertainties persist around appropriate payment models and the competitive landscape. Key promoting factors include the recognized need in the cancer community and among payers for new models to decrease unscheduled hospitalizations and emergency department visits as well as the uptake of home-based and technology-enabled solutions during the COVID-19 pandemic. A better understanding of these forces helps to clarify the risks and opportunities as new entrants build their programs.

Conclusions

Acute home-based cancer care is a promising tool to complement traditional outpatient clinics, emergency departments, and inpatient hospital-based models of cancer care. New technologies and policies increasingly enable a broader scope of cancer care in the home setting.

Main reasons and predictive factors of cancer-related emergency department visits in a Hungarian tertiary care center

BACKGROUND

Identifying the reasons for the Emergency Department (ED) visit of patients with cancer would be essential for possibly decreasing the burden of ED use. The aim of our study was to analyze the distribution of the demographic and clinical parameters of patients with cancer based on the reasons for the ED visits and to identify possible predictive factors for their visits.

METHODS

This retrospective study, carried out at a large, public tertiary hospital in Hungary, involved all patients 18 years or over, who had received a cancer diagnosis latest within five years of their visit to the ED in 2018. Demographic and clinical characteristics were collected partly via automated data collection and partly through the manual chart review by a team of experts, including six emergency physicians and an oncologist. Five main reasons for the ED visit were hypothesized, pilot-tested, then identified, including those with cancer-related ED visits (whose visit was unambiguously related to their cancer illness) and those with non-cancer-related ED visits (whose visit to the ED was in no way associated with their cancer illness.) A descriptive approach was used for data analysis and binary logistic regression was used to determine predictive factors for patients with cancer visiting the ED.

RESULTS

23.2% of the altogether 2383 ED visits were directly cancer-related, and these patients had a significantly worse overall survival than patients with non-cancer related ED visits. Age 65 or below (Odds Ratio: 1.51), presence of two more comorbidities (OR: 7.14), dyspnea as chief complaint (OR: 1.52), respiratory cancer (OR: 3.37), any prior chemotherapy (OR: 1.8), any prior immune/biological treatment (OR: 2.21), any prior Best Supportive Care/palliative care (OR: 19.06), or any prior hospice care (OR: 9.43), and hospitalization (OR:2.88) were independent risk factors for the ED visit to be cancer-related.

CONCLUSIONS

Our study is the first to identify independent predictive factors of ED use by patients with cancer based on the chief cause of their visit in the Central and Eastern European region. These results may provide important information for the development of algorithms intended to identify the needs of care of patients with cancer at the ED.

Evaluating the Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on New Cancer Diagnoses and Oncology Care in Manitoba

Individuals with cancer are vulnerable to infection with SARS-CoV-2, the virus causing COVID-19. Physical distancing, the reallocation of health care resources, and the implementation of procedures to reduce the spread of COVID-19 may also have serious consequences for people with cancer. We evaluated the impact of COVID-19 on new cancer diagnoses and oncology care in Manitoba, Canada using an interrupted time series design and data from the Manitoba Cancer Registry and CancerCare Manitoba's (CCMB) electronic medical record. In April 2020, there was a 23% decrease in new cancer diagnoses, a 21% decrease in pathology reports, and a 43% reduction in surgical resections. There was no difference in new cancer diagnoses by August 2020, surgery by July 2020, and pathology reports by September 2020. From April 2020 to June 2021, there was a 13% decrease in radiotherapy (RT) fractions, an 18% decrease in UCC visits, and a 52% decrease in in-person visits. There was no change in intravenous chemotherapy visits per month, first RT visits, or overall patient visits. The impact of COVID-19 on shifts in the stage at diagnosis and survival will be assessed in future analyses.