According to a recent American Cancer Society report, 70% of people diagnosed with cancer between 2015 and 2021 had a five-year survival rate across all cancer types.
Ten leaders told Becker’s the report — published Jan. 13 in CA: A Cancer Journal for Clinicians — highlights the growing need for health systems to invest in more comprehensive survivorship care.
The contributors to this article, or other representatives of their organizations, will be speaking at Becker’s Oncology Executive Summit in Chicago. Learn how to join them here.
Editor’s note: Responses have been lightly edited for clarity and length.
Question: The American Cancer Society’s latest cancer statistics report found that 70% of cancer patients in the U.S. have a five-year survival rate. How should health systems rethink or redesign oncology care as patient needs shift from treatment to survivorship?
Sachin Apte, MD. Chief Clinical Officer and Physician-in-Chief at Huntsman Cancer Institute (Salt Lake City): Although much work remains, the latest ACS statistics embody the extraordinary progress since the National Cancer Act of 1971. Investment in fundamental science, discovery, translation and care has enabled incredible progress in cancer treatment and survival.
Amazingly, 1 out of every 18 Americans is now a cancer survivor. These more than 18 million survivors are now, appropriately, in need of greater investment in survivorship. While grateful to be a survivor, many patients are then faced to deal with the long-term ramifications of treatment. These side effects are wide ranging and include physical, emotional, financial and/or social sequelae. It is the responsibility of health systems and the cancer treating community to invest and intentionally deploy resources and design processes to manage survivorship just as we do with complex treatment algorithms.
For example, for appropriate populations, cancer centers can introduce survivorship resources early in the cancer treatment journey. Just as precision medicine and AI are increasingly applied to treatment, the same should be applied to survivorship. Each cancer patient has a unique biology and treatment — therefore each patient may require a unique survivorship care plan designed specifically for the whole person needs of that individual.
Managing survivorship in a complex cancer patient often requires a deep understanding of oncology and the treatments the patient has received. Going forward, we will need to expand the workforce capable of providing high-quality holistic survivorship care. Developing a robust team capable of high-quality survivorship can also create capacity for teams focused on acute care and treatment of newly diagnosed patients.
Dhruv Bansal, MD. Director of Immunotherapy and Thoracic Oncology at Endeavor Health (Evanston, Ill.): This important shift means health systems must redesign oncology care to address the evolving needs of patients, moving from a treatment-focused, episodic approach to a longitudinal survivorship model.
To do so, survivorship planning should begin at the time of diagnosis instead of being considered only after treatment ends. This approach calls for proactive management of late toxicities, risks of secondary malignancies, psychosocial and cognitive effects, as well as financial toxicity.
Comprehensive survivorship care should be coordinated across oncology, primary care and relevant subspecialties. Shared care plans and interoperable data systems are essential for ensuring this coordination. Investments in digital symptom monitoring, remote patient-reported outcomes and survivorship clinics embedded within oncology practices can help reduce care fragmentation while maintaining continuity. Ultimately, the success of oncology care should be measured not only by survival rates but also by functional outcomes, quality of life and the patient’s ability to return to meaningful life roles.
Richard Barakat, MD, Physician-in-Chief and Executive Director at Northwell Health Cancer Institute (New Hyde Park, N.Y.): To better support the growing number of cancer survivors, health systems must integrate survivorship care early, ideally starting at diagnosis. This involves discussing potential long-term treatment effects, necessary lifestyle adjustments and the proactive management of comorbidities, empowering patients to optimize their long-term well-being and quality of life.
Essential to this shift is establishing a dedicated survivorship clinical team, capable of holistically assessing patient needs, coordinating ongoing monitoring, providing education and facilitating specialist referrals.
Concurrently, it is crucial to enhance professional education for healthcare professionals on the wide range of late and long-term effects of cancer and its treatments. This can be done by incorporating survivorship principles and best practices into continuing medical education programs, symposiums and grand rounds.
Finally, a comprehensive, multidisciplinary approach, incorporating specialized services like cardio-oncology, onco-fertility, psycho-oncology and rehabilitation, is vital to treat the whole person. By proactively embracing and empowering survivors, health systems can dramatically improve the long-term health and quality of life for individuals living beyond a cancer diagnosis. This strategic shift not only offers profound benefits for patients but also yields substantial systemwide advantages, including reduced emergency room visits, decreased hospitalizations and a significant alleviation of the overall burden from unmanaged late effects.
Frantz Berthaud. Senior Vice President of Oncology Services at University Medical Center of El Paso (Texas): It’s clear that the new stats underscore a dramatic improvement in survival. Health systems must address the physical, emotional and financial challenges that survivors face long after treatment ends and specifically meet the demands of what seemingly could be younger survivors with early-onset cancer’s increasing incidence.
Health systems should seek to do risk-stratified follow-up care models — scaling precision medicine into survivorship so we are personalizing surveillance; more integration of behavioral and psychosocial support, even looking to developing age specific support groups as we did for adolescents and young adults when that became a distinct group about two decades ago; and certainly leveraging technology for digital survivorship platforms.
Jennifer Litton, MD. Chief Clinical Research Officer at the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center (Houston): I see three main areas to consider. First, we need to be more intentional about our research into long-term complications of our therapies. This includes considering where we need to push forward to save more lives and where we need to consider tailoring less aggressive care to get the same outcomes with less toxicities, in addition to intervening earlier for toxicities that occur long after the treatment stops.
Second, cancer survivors have emotional and wellness needs that are often overlooked in today’s treatment paradigms. Systems will need to build the infrastructure or bridges to other providers for mental and physical healthcare that often needs to be tailored to the specific cancer and toxicities.
Lastly, with increasing survivors, oncologists will not be able to provide all the care needed for cancer patients over their lifetime. Systems will need to prioritize seamless transfer of care for cancer survivors back to primary care physicians who can manage both cancer survivorship and routine health care needs. Cancer survivorship will likely become a growing subspecialty of primary care providers who can manage both cancer- and non-cancer-related care.
Arturo Loaiza-Bonilla, MD. System Chief of Hematology and Oncology at St. Luke’s University Health Network (Bethlehem, Pa.): As five-year survival improves, oncology care must evolve from a treatment-centric model to a longitudinal, survivorship-first system. Health systems should redesign around continuous needs, like late effects management, secondary prevention, psychosocial support and financial and vocational recovery, rather than episodic visits.
Technology and AI can help enable longitudinal monitoring, risk stratification and early identification of survivorship complications, allowing teams to intervene proactively rather than reactively. Survivorship is no longer the end of cancer care; it is the longest and most complex phase of it.
Ruben Mesa, MD. President of the Cancer National Service Line and Senior Vice President at Advocate Health (Charlotte, N.C.) and Executive Director of Atrium Health Wake Forest Baptist Comprehensive Cancer Center (Winston-Salem, N.C.): The ACS’ recently published 70% five-year survival rate for cancer patients gives me and our Advocate Health cancer team tremendous hope and encouragement. While we have ongoing challenges in the early diagnosis and treatment of cancer, especially in specific subsets and populations, this important statistic is worth celebrating. It reflects significant progress from historic rates and the benefit for so many patients and their loved ones overcoming cancer. It also represents a strong call to action as to how we can continue improving our holistic approach in supporting cancer survivors.
The Advocate Health Cancer National Service Line team considers survivorship a journey for life that begins at diagnosis. It encompasses a comprehensive, integrated system — from primary care through cancer specialty services to top-tier treatment for the medical challenges survivors may encounter, such as heart and vascular issues, gastrointestinal problems, neurological concerns, dermatological conditions and psychiatric needs. Our cancer care promotes a lifelong partnership with our patients through our survivorship, supportive and integrative oncology services.
In 2017, Atrium Health Levine Cancer Institute recognized this need and developed the first-of-its-kind department dedicated to supportive oncology led by world renowned palliative care expert Declan Walsh, MD. Our Atrium Health Wake Forest Baptist Comprehensive Cancer Center was first in the Southeast to establish a survivorship clinic as part of their Cancer Patient Supportive Services. In Wisconsin, Team Phoenix is a one-of-a-kind cancer survivorship program in which a leadership team of multidisciplinary clinicians, triathlon coaches and volunteers encourage and assist cancer survivors to regain health and wellness after cancer treatment by training for a sprint-distance triathlon. It is truly an inspiring group and event. In Illinois, Sigrun Hallmeyer, MD, is the director of the Cancer Survivorship Center at Advocate Lutheran General Hospital, which serves as a hub for survivorship care in the Midwest.
Urshila Shah, PharmD. Chief Pharmacy Officer at Westchester Medical Center Health Network (Valhalla, N.Y): As survival improves, oncology programs need to evolve into long‑term health partners. Health systems should create structured survivorship pathways that intentionally link oncology, primary care, behavioral health and pharmacy. Digital monitoring and community‑based support are essential to managing late effects, maintaining quality of life and reducing avoidable hospital utilization. Survivorship care must be proactive and coordinated, not episodic.
Walter Stadler, MD. Chief Clinical Officer at City of Hope Chicago: Cancer survivorship is in many ways chronic medical care. This means a focus on comprehensive, patient centered health care that addresses aspects of oncologic care for those with active cancer, short and long term complications of therapy, other health conditions that may impact cancer care, and especially the complex psychosocial issues cancer survivors face. Especially for medical and pediatric oncologists, this means going back to their roots of providing comprehensive care developed during their internal medicine, pediatric or family medicine training.
Robert Stone. CEO of City of Hope (Duarte, Calif.): The progress reflected in the American Cancer Society’s report is extraordinary — and it fundamentally changes our responsibility as health systems. When nearly 70% of patients are surviving five years or longer, cancer care can no longer be designed around treatment alone. We must intentionally redesign oncology as a continuum of care, where survivorship is not an afterthought but a core clinical strategy. Cancer survivors often face long‑term physical, emotional, financial and social challenges that require sustained, coordinated care well beyond active treatment. Meeting these needs require moving away from episodic, siloed models toward integrated approaches that address the whole person and their family over time.
At City of Hope, survivorship and supportive care are foundational to how we deliver oncology care. We were among the first institutions in the nation to fully integrate evidence-based supportive care into routine clinical practice and today we operate one of the largest and most comprehensive programs in the country. Our model addresses the full spectrum of survivor needs, including symptom management, mental health, nutrition, financial navigation and family support. We also recognize the critical role of lifestyle factors in long-term outcomes. City of Hope’s Exercise Oncology Program — led by a world-renowned researcher — focuses on how structured physical activity can improve recovery, reduce recurrence risk and enhance quality of life following acute care. Importantly, we remain engaged with many patients for years after treatment, providing survivorship care while conducting research that measures outcomes, strengthens best practices and continuously improves how care is delivered.
Recognizing the need to scale this approach nationally, City of Hope also partners with Together for Supportive Care, a coalition of health systems, advocacy groups, and organizations like the American Cancer Society, along with the Sheri and Les Biller Family Foundation, to raise awareness around the importance of supportive care and advocate for a national standard of supportive cancer care.
Leave a Reply