Dr. Debra A. Wong

And we need to better define network adequacy so that it's not one size fits all for different geographic and socioeconomic regions across the nation.

Rural areas, for example, should have provisions for access to the same number and quality of cancer subspecialists as urban areas do.

When that isn't possible, one mechanism to bridge the gap is remote expert opinions, delivering expertise from leading academic centers into the community so that treating oncologists in resource-limited settings have the most up-to-date, cutting-edge cancer care knowledge at their fingertips.

And this can translate to better outcomes for their patients.

Another important aspect is funding the right care at the right time and with the right supportive care.

We found that there was a 33% greater chance of patients in non-urban areas compared with those in urban communities receiving recommendations for supportive care.

This includes palliative medicine or allied health services like nutrition or physical therapy and rehabilitation.

This suggests that the resources for optimal supportive care may not be available or accessible in certain areas.

Supportive care is just as, if not more important for comprehensive cancer care and helps people not just survive cancer, but thrive while they're facing cancer.

foster crosstalk to identify the key problems.

What might be a problem in one community may not apply to others.

For example, studies have shown that patients who are in rural areas do have trouble or lack of access to technology that would enable telehealth.

And further research also shows that those populations may have poorer outcomes.

Another example is that one region may lack appropriate clinical trials

for their patient demographic, while this is not an issue in other regions that may be populated with multiple academic centers running numerous clinical trials.

So it's important to develop solutions together across sectors that are specific to a region and its unique population.

It's also important to make it easy for both patients and treating oncologists.

We need to look for ways to provide what's needed locally and deliver it efficiently and in a timely manner, rather than requiring patients and their doctors to seek it out.

We also need to reflect, reevaluate, and iterate.

Make sure we're hitting the target as intended, especially as targets move.