Access to Cancer Specialist Care and Treatment in Patients With Advanced Stage Lung Cancer

Clinical Lung Cancer
Apar Kishor GantiHossein Borghaei

Abstract

Access to specialty care is critical for patients with advanced stage lung cancer. This study assessed access to cancer specialists and cancer treatment in a broad population of patients with advanced stage lung cancer. Two study samples were extracted from 2 claims databases and analyzed independently: patients aged ≥ 18 years with de novo diagnosis of metastatic lung cancer in the MarketScan database between 2008 and 2014 (commercially insured adult patients; n = 22,268); and patients aged ≥ 65 years in the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results-Medicare database with a diagnosis of advanced non-small-cell lung cancer between 2007 and 2011 (Medicare-insured elderly patients; n = 9651). The study period spanned from 6 weeks before the first lung biopsy tied to the initial lung cancer diagnosis until the end of continuous health insurance enrollment, or data availability, or death. Among the commercially insured adults (MarketScan), most patients were seen by a cancer specialist within a month of first lung biopsy (80%), 12% were never seen by a cancer specialist, and 6% did not receive cancer-directed therapy. Among the Medicare-insured elderly patients (SEER-Medicare), the proportions were 79%, 4%, and 10%, respectively....Continue Reading

Citations

Aug 10, 2019·Journal of Gastrointestinal Surgery : Official Journal of the Society for Surgery of the Alimentary Tract·Adrian DiazTimothy M Pawlik
Nov 13, 2020·The Oncologist·Erin L SchenkPaul A Bunn

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