![]() And then oftentimes because of the health product they're in, there's often a lack of access to specialization or just a delay in the system to get to the care that they need.” “So patients aren't really aware of the importance of screening, they aren't aware of the importance of following up and symptoms. “I also think that there's a lack of culturally appropriate messaging that goes into these communities,” Levine says. He also says health systems need to consider their outreach efforts to underserved communities. Levine acknowledges the role of social drivers of health, including the ability to pay for healthcare, as well as access to transportation, housing, and nutrition. Black men also are twice as likely to die of prostate cancer than white men, Levine notes. Researchers have documented that members of minority communities, including Black Americans, are more likely to die of cancer than white patients.īlack women are slightly less likely than white women to develop breast cancer, but the mortality rate among Black women is 40% higher than white women, the American Cancer Society says. Read more: Lessons from a doctor fighting cancer: ‘It’s really scary to be a patient’.“The importance of having equal access to clinical trials should be really clear from that example,” he says. Now, better treatments are allowing some patients to live five years or longer. A decade ago, many patients with small cell lung cancer would only live six to eight months.įor most patients at the time, the only way to survive for a longer period “was if you're on a clinical trial,” he says. Levine points to advances in treatment of small cell lung cancer. And we need to have a system that understands that it's really impossible for any one general oncologist that’s seeing 30 patients a day to keep up.” So, you know, that's why cancer is different. And that's just the diagnostics, and then you have all the new therapeutics. “It's just hard to keep up with all of it. “Like in breast cancer alone, there's probably 20, 30 common manifestations given the genomics,” Levine adds. “The system doesn't want to hear this, but it actually requires more sub-specialization to understand the genomics and all the different combinations that can occur,” he says. ![]() “It's hundreds of conditions, each one defined by its own DNA blueprint.”īecause of that fact, Levine says cancer care requires new thinking. ![]() Part of why Levine says cancer treatment is different from other conditions is the acceleration of knowledge, and how quickly standards of care can change.Ĭancer is no longer “just a handful of conditions,” Levine says. Even patients living in urban areas may not have easy access to high quality cancer care. Nationwide, there are 72 NCI-designated cancer centers in 36 states. Too many patients in underserved communities don’t live near a National Cancer Institute-designated cancer center, Levine says. ![]() City of Hope has also expanded its footprint in other states, including the acquisition of the Cancer Treatment Centers of America in February 2022. Levine points to the expansion of the system’s footprint in southern California, moving from a handful of sites 10 years ago to 40 locations today. In a wide-ranging interview, Levine talks about closing disparities in cancer care, improving research, better messaging to underserved communities, efforts to change health policy and expand access to cancer care.Ĭity of Hope has been increasingly focused on health equity in recent years. And what separates cancer from the other fields is that it's just changing so quickly.” “And the system keeps wanting to treat it with the same tools that we use for other chronic diseases like diabetes, or back pain. “The most important thing for people to understand, the takeaway, is that cancer care is different,” Levine says. He also shared his thoughts in an interview with Chief Healthcare Executive®. He talked about those themes in a presentation at the HLTH Conference in Las Vegas last month. City of Hope is focused on improving access to care and treatment of cancer in underserved communities, Levine says. Based in Los Angeles, California, the system focuses on cancer care. Levine is the president of health innovation and policy at City of Hope.
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