ASO Author Reflections: How Do Patients and Caregivers Select Hospitals for Complex Cancer Care?

Excerpt

In an effort to improve surgical outcomes at the population level, health care policies have focused on centralizing care to high-volume centers and restricting low-volume centers from performing complex operations.1 However, these policies have raised concerns that they may compromise patient autonomy and access to care. More importantly, it is unknown how patients and caregivers actually select centers for cancer care. This qualitative study explored how patients scheduled to undergo a pancreatectomy at three medical centers in different settings (metropolitan, urban regional, and suburban) and their caregivers selected their hospitals for complex cancer care.2 Secondarily, the study assessed the post-encounter perspectives of patients and caregivers about factors that facilitated or hindered their receipt of care. …