Rounds: In Accountable Care, Oncology Teams Take the Lead

The idea behind accountable care is that a diverse team of physicians of different disciplines would combine with other top clinicians including care navigators, social workers and nurses to provide the patient with the best evidence-based care, ready access to information and a team working together.

If ever there were a discipline where the accountable care structure was already being tested, it would be in cancer care, says Ian Buchanan, MD, MPH, Associate Vice President, Oncology and Urology UNC Health Care System in Chapel Hill, N.C., and one of the featured speakers at HealthLeaders Media Rounds "A Programmatic Approach to Cancer Care" simulcast from noon-3 p.m. Eastern time on Friday, Dec. 16, live from Banner MD Anderson Cancer Center in Phoenix, AZ.

Host speakers from Banner MD Anderson Cancer Center include Edgardo Rivera, MD, Medical Director, Vicki Koceja, RN, PhD, clinical administrative director and Michael Bianchi, associate administrator.

Cancer care can seem fractured, often with multiple providers in different specialists and working for different groups trying to coordinate care. And the nature of the disease itself plays a role, he says.

"The nature of care is different. You have a lot of acuity and a lot of need for a protracted period of time," Buchanan says. "There are few other diseases that require so many professionals to be engaged," he says, with the closest comparison being solid organ transplant.