Understanding Cancer Care

Although thousands of children succumb to incurable cancer each year, no standards exist to define optimal, high quality end-of-life care for children with cancer. Arriving at a consensus for what defines high quality end-of-life care in pediatric oncology is imperative to providing care that meets patient and family goals and reduces suffering. The overall objective of this proposal is to refine and pilot stakeholder-centered EOLC quality measures for children with cancer. By deriving patient-centered quality measures through rigorous methods, this research seeks to transform the existing paradigm for pediatric cancer care delivery near the end of life.

Funding source: National Comprehensive Cancer Network

Principal Investigator: Prasanna Ananth

Given the rapid pace of opioid-reduction efforts, there is an unmet need to understand the impact of these efforts on cancer patients for whom these medications may be intended or required. To address this knowledge gap, we propose the following project goals: (1) a population level analysis using SEER-Medicare to assess trends in receipt of new opioid use across strata of clinical appropriateness (patients with metastatic disease, patients undergoing surgery for early stage disease, and patients without cancer) and (2) an analysis of institutional data to assess trends in new opioid use across 3 distinct clinical scenarios (patients with metastatic disease, patients undergoing palliative radiotherapy, and patients undergoing surgery for early stage disease.

Funding source: U.S. Food and Drug Administration

Principal Investigator: Henry Park

This project is designed to examine the treatment and healthcare utilization patterns in adult patients with aplastic anemia from a large population-based cohort derived from Blue Cross Blue Shield Axis claims database to improve patient outcomes and quality of care.

Funding source: Robert E. Leet and Clara Guthrie Patterson Trust, Mentored Research Award

Principal investigator: Jessica M. Stempel