Study Explores Community Health Worker–Led Intervention’s Impact on Acute Care Use, Advance Care Planning, and Patient-Reported Outcomes

(Via The Asco Post) In a single-institution study reported in JAMA Oncology, Manali I. Patel, MD, MPH, MS, and colleagues found that the addition of a community health worker–led intervention to usual care resulted in reduced use of acute care, increased advance care planning documentation, increased use of palliative care and hospice, and improved reported mental and emotional health among patients with advanced cancer treated in the community setting. Study Details

The trial—conducted between August 2017 and November 2021—included 128 patients with newly diagnosed advanced-stage or recurrent solid or hematologic cancers treated at the Virginia K. Crosson Cancer Center in Fullerton, California. Patients were randomly assigned to usual care with (n = 64) or without (n = 64) a 6-month community health worker–led intervention. Read on…