Implementing high-quality cancer survivorship care in primary care: future directions for policy and research.

Abstract

Nearly 20 million people in the U.S. are living with and beyond a cancer diagnosis, many of whom survive for decades after treatment. As this population continues to grow and age, primary care (PC) plays an increasingly important role in managing long-term and late effects of treatment. However, efforts to improve survivorship care (SC) delivery in PC have only recently gained attention. With more survivors relying on their primary care clinicians (PCCs), there is a clear need to strengthen the implementation of high-quality SC in PC settings. In this commentary, we explore how high-quality SC can be implemented in PC, using the implementation plan outlined in the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine (NASEM) report Implementing High-Quality Primary Care: Rebuilding the Foundation of Health Care. We describe the evidence on PCCs' roles across the cancer care continuum and map the evidence to the NASEM report's five implementation objectives: payment, access, workforce, digital health, and accountability. Through this work, we identify future directions for policy and research to ensure that PC can serve as a "common good" for all cancer survivors.