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Category Archives: hematology

Tumor Board: Is There Value in Multidisciplinary Case Consideration?

22 Wednesday May 2013

Posted by @JustOncology in health, hematology, oncology, patient empowerment, tumor board

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digital health, evidence based medicine, health, innovation, oncology, participatory medicine, tumor board

By Gregg A. Masters, MPH

When the American College of Surgeons Commission on Cancer picked up the accreditation football and in the spirit of the then Joint Commission on Accreditation of Hospitals ‘Joint Commission‘ began the promulgation of specific standards for the accreditation of aspiring ‘cancer programs’, at the center of this consideration was the multidisciplinary cancer conference also known as ‘tumor board.’tumor board

Via these standards there were both structural and certain process considerations to meet, but the underlying assumption or zeitgeist of the value proposition – better cancer care – was that ‘multidisciplinary’ engagement of cancer specialists in the diagnosis and treatment of cancer patients would produce superior outcomes.

Then in October of 2012 Keating et al published a study titled: ‘Tumor Boards and the Quality of Cancer Care’. While somewhat dated (interval 2001-2004), and not generally representative of community oncology practices per se (the sample was sourced in the Veteran’s Health System), the conclusions are none-the-less a compelling call to objectively demonstrate long held assumptions of the benefits of tumor board ‘collaboration’.

The background context for the study was noted as follows:

Despite the widespread use of tumor boards, few data on their effects on cancer care exist. We assessed whether the presence of a tumor board, either general or cancer specific, was associated with recommended cancer care, outcomes, or use in the Veterans Affairs (VA) health system.

While Keating et al concluded as follows:

We observed little association of multidisciplinary tumor boards with measures of use, quality, or survival. This may reflect no effect or an effect that varies by structural and functional components and participants’ expertise.

Following publication a series of pieces appeared in the professional press with eye catching headlines such as:

‘Tumor Boards May Not Really Impact Cancer Care‘, and ‘Little association of multidisciplinary tumor boards with effects on cancer care‘, but the title that grabbed our attention was an opinion piece in response to the Keating study offered by Douglas W. Blayney, MD, Stanford Cancer Institute, Stanford School of Medicine, titled: ‘Tumor Boards (team Huddles) Aren’t Enough to Reach the Goal‘.

Blayney details his reasoning and observation while cautioning against the potential ‘knee jerk’ over reaction by some to the Keating conclusions and ‘market aftermath’ as follows:

Tumor boards have too long a history for them to be easily
abandoned. Much like the “hurry-up” offense changed the conduct of huddles in football, tumor boards should also adapt to the changing times and technology. In the system studied by Keating et al. (1), there are only huddles and no feedback loop. Their measurement work provides a reason to change tumor board conduct.

On ‘This Week in Oncology‘, May 22nd, 2013 at 2PM Pacific/5PM Eastern Dr. Blayney is our very special guest. We’ll dive deeper into his thought process, rationale and recommendations to tweak the tumor board formula via technology and other process adds, to perhaps better align this important multi-disciplinary experience with improved patient outcomes.

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The ‘incident’

My life was essentially on autopilot. My oncology practice was very successful; in fact, too successful. All my time and energy was devoted to keeping pace with the increasing demands of the profession. Other pursuits, be they personal or professional, always seemed to take a back seat. My main unfulfilled passion was writing.

On January 7, 2011, everything changed. I had a new bovine aortic valve and three new coronary artery grafts. A life altering event, to say the least. Fortunately my recovery has been uneventful, and I had no evidence of muscle injury. So I’m extremely grateful for the pre-emptive surgery, and since I’m back to work on a part time basis, I now can devote some of my attention to writing.

For the past several years, a colleague, trusted advisor and friend of mine, Gregg Masters, had been prodding me to “just do it”, i.e., just start blogging, podcasting and life streaming my experiences in Medicine. He pointed out the value of my 36 years in clinical practice of hematology and medical oncology as 'elder wisdom' currency in relative short supply. In truth, there is certainly a lot to write about as the clinical knowledge base has grown enormously, to the point where management of all this information requires computers. Fortunately, technology has developed at a rapid rate also so that we can not only mine all this data to obtain meaningful information, but better disseminate it to each other, health plans (including government) and especially our patients. With the advent of social media including Twitter, Facebook and You Tube, this flow of information becomes a two way street allowing physicians to listen as well as talk. On a personal note, my wife published daily status updates during my surgery and through the post-operative period on a website called Caringbridge. She posted pictures as well as narrative. Colleagues, relatives, friends and patients had a window opened to them as to how I was doing, and they in turn wrote back notes of encouragement that touched me deeply.

When Gregg and I thought about it, his background not only in 'web 2.0' (social media) but perhaps more significantly his considerable experience in the business aspects of medicine brings value into the conversation as well. In today’s environment, physicians are constantly reminded that we not only are responsible for all aspects of caring for patients, but we are running a business as well. Years ago, I remember reading an excellent book called “The E-Myth Physician” by Michael Gerber. One of the chapters was devoted to the subject of “Money”. So Gregg’s knowledge complements my clinical background resulting in the birth of JustOncology.com.

Certainly there is no shortage of topics to discuss. Utilizing a variety of media: blogging (which addresses my passion for writing), audio and visual interviews with as many of the stakeholders in cancer care as possible, we hope to provide a forum for discussion of problems facing us. From these interactions, the desired outcome is to identify solutions that can only come from a collaborative effort.

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About

JustOncology.com is a joint publication of Richard Just, MD, aka @chemosabe1 on Twitter and Gregg Masters, MPH, aka @2healthguru on Twitter.

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