Effective communication among members of the oncology care team has become increasingly complex. Strategies that optimize the technologies available while integrating into preferred workflows will ensure timely receipt, acknowledgement, and response to messages and notifications.

Artificial intelligence (AI) is a rapidly expanding field, and healthcare is ripe with opportunities for use. It is important for everyone involved in the delivery of cancer care to understand the opportunities and ethical implications for AI use in oncology.

Sex/sex characteristics, sexual orientation, and gender identity (SSOGI) data is integral to understanding disparities in cancer prevention, screening, diagnosis, and care. With this information, barriers to equitable care for sexual and gender minority cancer patients can be addressed.

As cancer centers respond to the external pressures to move more oncology care to the outpatient setting, it is important to understand the factors driving these changes and the benefits and challenges in balancing inpatient and outpatient oncology care. Safely providing high intensity oncology care in the outpatient setting can improve inpatient bed access, help reduce healthcare costs, and improve patient satisfaction.

Cancer drug shortages have had a significant impact on clinical practice with much confusion around how to appropriately manage care of patients with cancer in the midst of a drug shortage. You can benefit by learning what you can do both in your practice and in your advocacy to advance short-term and long-term solutions.

Many care teams struggle to find the right allocation of responsibilities to optimize oncology care team efficiencies. It can be beneficial for oncology care teams to learn from examples of how cancer centers have successfully redesigned care teams and re-allocated responsibilities to decrease provider burnout and provide more efficient, high-quality care.

Education on this topic is necessary and timely, particularly as the use of advanced practice providers (APPs) is rapidly expanding. There are a variety of models that practices can use to assign work and allocate resources; however, underutilization can result in employee satisfaction issues, high burnout, and wasted resources. This activity provides guidance and best practices on utilization of APPs.

The field of risk identification is advancing rapidly through harnessing big data. Understanding this topic is extremely important to help oncology practices understand the data needed to calculate risk and strategies to design successful programs that allow patients to receive appropriate screening and opportunities for early intervention.

Understanding the changes in the economics of oncology care and the increasing financial challenges impacting cancer centers is important for stakeholders at all levels to become informed consumers of the healthcare system. It is important for cancer center leaders to have this information to make informed decisions around resource allocation for continued viability.

It is important to realize the full potential of the electronic health record and the impact on oncology care. Challenges persist related to structured data collection at the point of care. There is value in structured data collection for providers, their patients, and healthcare systems in routine clinical care and clinical research.