Objective:

To evaluate the challenges and barriers in implementing cancer survivorship care standards within health systems.

Approach:

• Study Design: A real-time Delphi study conducted by El Khoury et al. in early 2025, involving 25 multidisciplinary experts in survivorship care.

Key Findings:

• Consensus among experts on the significance of health system processes for survivorship care.
• Limited agreement on the availability of formal organizational policies and evaluation metrics.
• Identified barriers include workforce constraints, lack of standardized workflows, and technological limitations.
• Survivorship care remains fragmented and siloed within health systems.

Interpretation:

The findings indicate that challenges in cancer survivorship care extend beyond logistical issues, reflecting deeper misalignments in organizational priorities and insufficient integration of care and research.

Limitations:

• The study did not include individuals with lived experience in the evaluation.
• Findings may not represent broader perspectives within the entire cancer center.

Conclusion:

To enhance survivorship care, it is essential to bridge gaps between clinical care and research priorities, establish leadership roles for survivorship, and redefine value metrics in healthcare systems.

Sources:

• El Khoury et al. Study