Supportive Care Delivered by Telemedicine to Cancer Patients at Home

Virtual Visits by Supportive Care Specialists to Cancer Patients at Home: A Randomized Controlled Pilot Noninferiority Trial of Video Telemedicine

This study will test whether supportive care follow-up delivered to cancer patients at home by telemedicine ("virtual" medical visits using telecommunications technologies) is as effective as in-person supportive care visits in the clinic.

The protocol was developed and initially implemented when the standard of care for Supportive Care (and oncology) follow-up at MSK was in-person visiting and home telemedicine was only in an early stage of use at the institution. During the COVID-19 crisis, all outpatient Supportive Care visits and most oncology visits at MSK have been handled via telemedicine to protect patient (and staff) safety.

Inclusion Criteria:

• age 18 years or older
• solid tumor of any type
• completed an initial in-person clinic visit (i.e. an IR/NV or AFX visit) at Rockefeller Outpatient Pavilion with Dr. Saldivar, Dr. Martin, Supportive Care physicians, or Andrea Dolan, a Supportive Care nurse practitioner
• planned for Supportive Care Service follow-up visits, but none yet completed
• enrolled on the MyMSK secure online patient portal and have access to the portal off site of MSK campuses
• resident of New York or New Jersey or Connecticut (clinicians may not be licensed in other states, as would be required for televisits to patients there)

Exclusion Criteria:

• Patients and informal caregivers who cannot communicate with clinicians/respond to instruments in English without the use of an interpreter