Overview
More than half of all patients with cancer in the United States receive treatment at community oncology practices rather than major academic medical centers. Despite their central role in healthcare delivery, comprehensive national data evaluating community oncology adoption of modern diagnostic testing and guideline-recommended treatments has been limited.
Using the Flatiron Health Research Database, researchers evaluated biomarker testing rates, receipt of guideline-concordant therapies, and timelineness of treatment among over 104,000 patients with metastatic breast cancer (mBC) and nearly 139,000 patients with metastatic non-small cell lung cancer (mNSCLC) treated across more than 200 community practices. The study showed dramatic increases in high-quality care over time. For example, for mNSCLC, next-generation genomic sequencing rose from 8% to 90% and immunotherapy adoption grew from 15% to 77%. Additionally, about 80% of patients initiated treatment within six weeks of their first oncology visit.
Why this matters
This research revealed that U.S. community oncology practices deliver high-quality, NCCN guideline-aligned care characterized by timely and sustained adoption of complex diagnostics and novel therapies. Furthermore, these findings demonstrate that high-quality cancer care is available in community oncology settings.