Grant: Op Grant: Analyses of Existing Canadian Cohorts & Databases - Cancer Control

The Urgent Cancer Care (UCC) clinic at CancerCare Manitoba, launched in November 2013, is a unique model of care designed specifically to meet the specialized needs of cancer patients experiencing cancer or treatment-related symptoms or side-effects. The goals of the clinic are to provide prompt care by health care providers with oncology knowledge and to reduce the need for patients to use hospital emergency department (ED) services. Our study will examine the characteristics of patients using the UCC clinic versus an ED, evaluate the impact of the UCC clinic on ED use and visits to primary care providers, and determine the potential costs saved by providing urgent care services to cancer patients through this model. The study will include individuals diagnosed with invasive cancer from January 2004 to March 2016 that lived in the city of Winnipeg (the location of the UCC clinic). The results from this study will provide information about how well the UCC clinic model works which will help to improve patient care during treatment. The study will also determine the cost of providing care in this way and if costs are lower. This research will help other Canadian cancer centers to make informed decisions as they develop effective, efficient, and innovative models of cancer care.