Determining the Value-on-Investment of Provider-to-Provider Virtual Consultation for Cancer Care
Access to high-quality cancer care in the United States remains a challenge in part due to a geographic mismatch between patients with cancers and the oncologic specialists best able to serve them. There is therefore an urgent need to develop communications strategies that allow oncologists to determine which patients might benefit from referral for subspecialty cancer care, and to allow subspecialists to guide care remotely when patients are unable or unwilling to travel. Unfortunately, virtual consultation between clinicians has been understudied, and likely underutilized, in cancer care. Health systems may be hesitant to implement a virtual consultation program without data on such a program’s value.