Institute Report
Optimizing Care Delivery for Patients With Cancer
Integrating Patient Awareness of Evidence-Based Care, Engagement in Key Decision-Making Points, and Shared Decision-making
Sep 16, 2025

Report Summary

With cancer treatment evolving rapidly through medical advances, the value of patient-centered care is being increasingly recognized--not only in academic literature, but also in clinical practice - by patients, patient advocacy groups and the broader healthcare ecosystem.

Despite this growing awareness, achieving this type of care remains a challenge with several barriers preventing the optimal involvement of patients in their cancer care journey.

This report examines three key elements of patient-centered care and proposes actionable strategies to the current barriers–ultimately aiming to enhance patient engagement and improve clinical outcomes.

Each chapter in the report assesses the current status of these elements:

  • raising patient awareness of patient-facing clinical guidelines;
  • engaging patients and caregivers at pivotal decision-making points along the care pathways;
  • and empowering shared decision-making.

Each of these areas offer opportunities for enhancing patient health. These chapters also lay out the impact of the sub-optimal status of these elements and propose recommendations to improve the existing situation based on expert input.

Key Findings

  • An analysis of patient and provider communication along with patient advocacy expert perspectives through a roundtable highlight that there is a significant gap in patients' and caregivers’ awareness and understanding of patient-facing clinical guidelines, even though healthcare professionals (HCPs) commonly use these guidelines to inform their recommendations and treatment decisions.
  • Based on the analysis of patient messages and questions from the Outcomes4Me data, specific mentions by patients of treatment guidelines, even among this engaged population, were generally absent.
  • This lack of understanding can lead to misalignment on treatment goals resulting in increased healthcare costs and economic burden, prevention of informed discussions with HCPs, and the potential for exacerbating disparities in cancer care.
  • Experts from the roundtable highlighted that there are moments along the cancer care continuum where more active conversation between patients and their healthcare systems is needed. These moments require a thoughtful approach that fosters self-advocacy without overwhelming patients with information.
  • Additional research conducted by IQVIA highlights that patients want to be active participants in their care. However, involving patients and caregivers in key decisions along the care pathway can be challenging.
  • The lack of patient and caregiver involvement can result in overlooked decision points and patient concerns, missed opportunities for timely intervention, increased financial burden, anxiety and lower quality of life and fragmented care pathways.
  • The Outcomes4Me information suggests that these barriers, from the patients’ perspective, change throughout their healthcare journey
  • The experts from the roundtable also discussed how gaps in clinicians’ understanding of social determinants of health (SDOH) can significantly hinder informed decision-making. Many clinicians may not fully realize the impact of these factors on care quality, which is essential for personalizing treatment and facilitating meaningful discussions with patients
Contact Us