Published online, December 9, 2019 DOI: 10.1200/JCO.19.02297

Melissa S. Dillmon, Erin B. Kennedy, Mary K. Anderson, Michael Brodersen, Howard Cohen, Steven L. D'Amato, Patty Davis, Gury Doshi, Stuart Genschaw, Issam Makhoul, Wayne Ormsby, Rajiv Panikkar, Eileen Peng, Luis E. Raez, Ellen A. Ronnen, Bill Wimbiscus, and Michael Reff

Purpose 

To provide standards for medically integrated dispensing of oral anticancer drugs and supportive care medications.

Methods

An Expert Panel was formed, and a systematic review of the literature on patient-centered best practices for the delivery of oral anticancer and supportive care drugs was performed to April 2019 using PubMed and Google Scholar. Available patient-centered standards, including one previously developed by the National Community Oncology Dispensing Association (NCODA), were considered for endorsement. Public comments were solicited and considered in preparation of the final manuscript.

Results

A high-quality systematic review that was current to May 2016 was adopted into the evidence base. Five additional primary studies of multifaceted interventions met the inclusion criteria. These studies generally included a multicomponent intervention, often led by an oncology pharmacist, and also included patient education and regular follow-up and monitoring. These interventions resulted in significant improvements to patient quality and safety and demonstrated improvements in adherence and other patient outcomes.

Conclusion

The findings of the systematic review were consistent with the NCODA patient-centered standards for patient relationships and education, adherence, safety, collection of data, documentation, and other areas. NCODA standards were adopted and used as basis for these American Society of Clinical Oncology/NCODA standards.

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