Abstract
Background: Lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) individuals experience health disparities at disproportionate rates which drive reduced cancer screenings and late-stage cancer diagnoses. These disparities are the result of barriers to care including a lack of LGBTQ-competent providers, lack of health insurance, unstable housing, and avoidance of care due to medical trauma and concerns about abuse and mistreatment. Community health centers are critical for providing primary care to LGBTQ+ patients with cancer. Unfortunately, once a patient is diagnosed with cancer and referred to specialty care outside the health center, primary care services are often disrupted or even discontinued as a result of gaps in communication between primary and oncological care providers. The © 4R Oncology Model (Right Information and Right Care for the Right Patient at the Right Time) is a novel, patient-centric care coordination tool developed to facilitate cancer planning and serve as a longitudinal primary care checklist for patients and their care team. Our project aims to assess the benefits and limitations of the 4R as a component of care delivered to LGBTQ cancer survivors. Methods: In collaboration with Howard Brown Health, we conducted semi-structured interviews with clinical care team members (N=10) to assess the benefits and limitations of the 4R implementation as a component of care delivered to LGBTQ cancer survivors. A Rapid analysis process, a method used when a quick analysis is required to adopt changes to ongoing processes, will be utilized. Results: Clinical care team members indicate that a lack of adequate research on solutions to the disruption of primary care services caused by cancer care for LGBTQ cancer patients is a significant barrier for this patient population. Team members agree that the 4R is a necessary intervention for addressing primary care gaps caused by inadequate care coordination. Conclusions: The 4R shows promise as a solution for initiating and sustaining more continuous communication between primary care and cancer care delivery for LGBTQ cancer survivors. Future interviews with patients, caregivers, and community organization members will further elucidate the barriers and facilitators to cancer care coordination for this population and how iterations of the 4R can improve access to care and outcomes.
Citation Format: Nihmotallahi Adebayo, Will Dunne, Toni Madorsky, Sankirtana Danner, Juan Rivera, Elena Molina, Abbey Ekong, Elizabeth Adetoro, Cassandra Osei, Julia Trosman, Christine Weldon, Melissa Simon. LGBTQ cancer care: Assessing the benefits and limitations of a novel cancer care coordination tool [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the AACR Virtual Conference: 14th AACR Conference on the Science of Cancer Health Disparities in Racial/Ethnic Minorities and the Medically Underserved; 2021 Oct 6-8. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev 2022;31(1 Suppl):Abstract nr PO-021.
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