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1. Cancer care is moving out of the cancer center and into the home.
- Necessary delivery of at-home cancer care during the pandemic illustrated that home-based care programs can reduce costs, increase capacity, and address patient preferences and needs.
- In the last four years, cancer programs have continued to expand their telehealth, home-based care, and remote patient monitoring offerings. Today, 97% of cancer programs offer virtual visits to at least some of their patients, compared to only 52% in 2019.1
- These factors have led to a shift: cancer programs now see home cancer care as a business opportunity, rather than a temporary measure to minimize viral exposure.
2. Traditional cancer service area is redefined beyond geography.
- Most cancer services can now be delivered at home, virtually, or in satellite sites of larger cancer programs. Thus, patients don’t need to visit a cancer program’s main center as frequently, and in some cases, they may never meet their oncologist in person. For example, the VA has created a national virtual oncology service, allowing their oncology specialists to treat cancer patients across the country through telehealth.
- While completely virtual care delivery is not the norm, consolidation among health systems and cancer practices means other providers now have the scale to build national tele-oncology programs like the VA’s. These changes indicate that a cancer program’s service area no longer needs to be exclusively tied to a specific geographic area.
3. Non-traditional investors and stakeholders disrupt the oncology ecosystem.
Stakeholders including health plans, employers, and solutions providers (such as digital health vendors) are investing in cancer care delivery and support services. For example:
- Several companies have recently launched services to help plans and employers steer patients to certain low-cost or high-quality networks of providers.
- Health plans, employers, and solutions providers alike are taking on a larger role in patient support, including providing care managers to help patients navigate their care journeys.
These stakeholders are shifting from offering point solutions to offering comprehensive care platforms — expanding their influence across the care continuum.
As new actors get involved in cancer care, care delivery will be increasingly controlled by an entire ecosystem of stakeholders, rather than just the provider.
The widespread adoption of telehealth and home-based care has expanded the traditional service area, leading to national competition among cancer providers. To compete in this new environment, your customers are differentiating through strategies aligned with their specific archetypes. Consider these archetypes and their corresponding growth strategies when shaping how you work with them.
Organization type (Archetype)
- Large health systems
- Cancer practices
- NCI-designated cancer centers
- Hospitals and small health systems
Approaches to growth and competition
- Opening new sites to expand care delivery footprints
- Pursuing National Cancer Institute (NCI) designation
- Bolstering clinical research programs and offering the latest clinical innovations
Priorities
- Improve patient convenience
- Offer quicker access by increasing capacity
- Build brand awareness
- Improve quality
- Receive additional research funding
- Differentiate from competitors
- Highlight innovation to community
Approaches to growth and competition
- Aggregating into networks to obtain scale
- Investing in value-based care as a primary differentiator
Priorities
- Centralize administrative and technology services
- Provide access to clinical research, integrated pharmacies, lab services, and a wide range of peer experts
- Appeal to health plans, employers, and at-risk primary care groups
- Increase flexibility to design patient-centered care models
Approaches to growth and competition
- Building new cancer hospitals
- Expanding second opinion programs
- Affiliating with community cancer centers
Priorities
- Differentiate through specialization
- Become top choice for sickest patients
- Attract new patients
- Diversify revenue streams
- Enhance reputation
- Grow referral network and expand brand presence
- Improve care coordination, patient outcomes, and resource sharing
Approaches to growth and competition
- Making reactive moves to stay afloat
- Enhancing patient support programs
- Launching new community programs
Priorities
- Create adaptable programs that can weather the evolving market
- Improve quality
- Avoid volume loss to other programs
- Expand access and solidify loyalty in the local market
Life sciences companies can improve their partnership strategies and enable commercial growth by accounting for the trends impacting cancer providers today. Consider the opportunities below as you develop a plan for your approach to cancer providers.
- Opportunities by Trend
- Opportunities by Company Type
Opportunity for Life Sciences
Opportunity for Medtech
Opportunity for Life Sciences
Opportunities for Medtech
Trend 1: Cancer care is moving out of the cancer center and into the home.
Trend 1: Cancer care is moving out of the cancer center and into the home.
Trend 2: Traditional cancer service area is redefined beyond geography.
Trend 3: Non-traditional investors and stakeholders disrupt the oncology ecosystem.
1 Simpson KD and Fletcher S. The State of Access and the Healthcare Experience for Patients with Cancer. ACCC. November 1, 2023.
Julia Elder
Posted on December 16, 2024
Updated on March 13, 2025
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