Cancer Care More Accessible Thanks to Launch of Telehealth and In-Home Infusion programs
Chevon Rariy, MD, outlines patient eligibility criteria, and the alterations to the nurse patient relationship, as CTCA launches the novel Oncology Clinic at Home Program.
Qualifying patients can now receive their chemotherapy treatments at home, thanks to the Cancer Treatment Centers of America’s pilot program, Oncology Clinic at Home.
Chevon Rariy, MD, medical director of endocrinology at Cancer Treatment Centers of America (CTCA) Chicago, and the Telehealth Program director for the CTCA, recently spoke to Targeted Oncology®, sister publication of Oncology Nursing News®, about patient eligibility criteria, how the nurse fosters relations between the oncologist and patient, and how telehealth was well positioned to make cancer care more accessible.She shared that “there’s no magic tool to increase access to oncology care, but telehealth is a tool which can be leveraged.”
The Oncology Clinic at Home program, which is currently based in Atlanta, Georgia, delivers oncology care to patients so long as they are in good enough health to not require a hospital visit, can tolerate their medication in an in-patient setting, have reliable internet service, own a mobile device such as a laptop or mobile, and have insurance policies which cover the treatments. The program currently treats breast, lung, prostate, head and neck, colorectal and some genitourinary cancers.
