Home-Based Cancer Care On Way
The benefits of home healthcare include lower costs, yet cancer care at home in the U.S. is uncommon. Oncologists are advocating more and more for home-based care, citing the success of programs in healthcare systems abroad, and the positive outcomes generated by other types of home-based care programs in the U.S.
“The building blocks for an oncology HaH (hospital-at-home) are already in place in the United States,” oncologists wrote in the Journal of Clinical Oncology. “Management of many specific cancer-related symptoms and complications is feasible in the home setting. Outpatient management of low-risk febrile neutropenia is as safe and effective as inpatient management, at half the cost. Delivery of certain types of treatment in the home environment, such as intravenous fluids and certain types of chemotherapy, is common.”
There are still a few hurdles such as uncertainty regarding patient selection, operational logistics and reimbursement processes — but the benefits of the program would outweigh those challenges, according to the doctors. Guidelines must be set to identify which cancer patients can appropriately be seen at home, but the hope is to improve patient satisfaction with equal or greater quality. Payers would also save money, as treatment in the home is among one of the least expensive care interventions.
