Lay Health Worker Led Symptom Assessment Intervention

Cancer Clinical Trial

Official title: Joint Oncology Collaboration for Proactive Symptom Assessments by a Lay Health Worker

Status Completed

Clinical Trial Summary

Rising costs and poor patient experiences from under-treated symptoms have led to the demand for approaches that improve patients' experiences and lower expenditures. This observational project assigned a lay health worker to concuct proactive symptom assessments intended to achieve these goals among patients with advanced cancer.

Clinical Trial Description

All newly diagnosed Medicare Advantage enrollees with Stage 3 or 4 solid tumors or hematologic malignancies who planned to receive all oncology care at the Oncology Institute of Hope and Innovation from 11/1/2015 through 9/30/2016 were enrolled in the program. The program consisted of a 12-month telephonic program in which a lay health worker (LHW) supervised on-site by a registered nurse practitioner (RNP), assessed patient symptoms after diagnosis using the validated Edmonton Symptom Assessment Scale (ESAS) with the frequency of symptom assessment varying based on patient risk. We evaluated feasibility, defined as monthly LHW documentation of symptom assessments, and change in patient-reported satisfaction and overall and emotional and mental health with validated assessments at enrollment and 5-months post-enrollment among patients in the intervention. We compared healthcare use and costs to a historical cohort of similar Medicare Advantage enrollees diagnosed between 11/1/2014-10/31/2015 (control). We assessed differences in demographic and clinical factors between the two groups using chi-square and t-tests and used generalized linear models to evaluate differences in healthcare use and costs. ;

Related Conditions & MeSH terms

• Cancer

• NCT number: NCT03737058
• Study type: Observational
• Source: Stanford University
• Status: Completed
• Start date: November 1, 2015
• Completion date: December 30, 2021