Coordinated cancer care

What is coordinated care?

Coordinated care recognizes that cancer is a complex disease, requiring multiple doctor's appointments, medications and treatments, as well as support and follow-up care, and answers to the questions you may have along the way. At City of Hope, we are committed to helping you handle these logistics, so you don't have to do it alone. That's why we developed a comprehensive care model that assigns a coordinator, or team of coordinators, to each patient's care team, to ensure that your medical needs are met in a seamless fashion. These coordinators are called a care managers, and they are dedicated to orchestrating your schedule, communication, education and follow-up.

The benefits of coordinated care include:

The cancer journey explained. Whether it's understanding medical jargon, interpreting doctors' directions or knowing what to expect from treatments or possible side effects, care managers are there to help you navigate the many facets of the cancer journey and answer questions that may come up.

Convenience. Cancer is a complex disease that requires scheduling and coordination of numerous doctor visits, diagnostics, treatments, etc. Care managers keep track of it all, and strive to make sure nothing falls through the cracks.

Responsiveness. Having a care manager, or team of care managers, means that you have one point of contact for your medical questions and concerns. Care managers coordinate communication and appointments among the care team, striving to avoid lapses in care and serving as the one constant who keeps everyone on the same page.

What is a care manager?

Care managers at City of Hope are nurses with cancer care expertise who serve as the point persons on most aspects of your treatment journey.

Care managers handle the logistics of the patient experience. Whether it's coordinating doctor appointments and treatment visits, filling prescriptions or explaining the process, care managers help keep you fully informed.

As liaisons between you, your caregivers and your care teams, care managers are the common thread holding the pieces together.

Care management services include:

Coordinate medications: Care managers keeps track of the various medications prescribed by your team of doctors, seeing that the orders are filled and refilled when necessary.

Transfer medical records: At your direction and with your permission, our care managers do the leg work in coordinating the collection and transfer of necessary records and getting them to your care team.

Follow up on lab results: The care managers are responsible for keeping track of your lab tests and notifying you of the results when they are available.

Coordinate communication among the supportive care team: The care managers are key members of your care team, coordinating the communication among your doctors and other clinicians and consulting with them to review and discuss your treatment plan.

Manage the side effects of treatment: Knowing that a number of side effects are common to cancer patients and trained to spot their symptoms, our care managers will stay in close contact with you to monitor your progress and connect you with supportive care therapies when needed.

Coordinate medical appointments: Cancer care involves a number of appointments, from doctor consultations and meetings with supportive care clinicians to treatment visits and follow-up checkups. The care managers see that the schedule is manageable and streamlined, striving to avoid lapses in care.

Answer medical questions and concerns: Our care managers are available around the clock to answer your medical questions, and if they can’t, they will do their best to find someone who can.

Assist with crisis management: Our care managers offer assistance for a wide variety of cancer-related needs, including crisis management, applying for disability assistance and finding community services.

Expertise in cancer care: As nurses with experience and training in working with cancer patients, our care managers have the expertise to help guide you and your family through this complex journey.