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News
Cancer centers want to support survivors, but the systems to do so are lagging. A Delphi study of 25 multidisciplinary experts found strong agreement that NCI's 2024 national survivorship care standards are important — but implementation readiness is inconsistent. The biggest barriers aren't clinical; they're organizational, from missing workflows to inadequate tracking tools.
The National Cancer Institute rolled out national cancer survivorship care standards in 2024, covering everything from psychosocial support and financial hardship screening to lifestyle counseling and recurrence monitoring. The problem? Most cancer centers aren't yet consistently equipped to deliver on them.
A Delphi study surveyed 25 multidisciplinary experts — oncologists, primary care providers, and nurse practitioners — to assess implementation readiness. While there was near-universal agreement that the standards are important and impactful, readiness varied widely. Cross-specialty coordination (e.g., with rehab medicine or primary care) was seen as especially challenging, and organizational gaps — not clinical will — were identified as the primary obstacle.
Key Takeaways:
Why it matters: Millions of cancer survivors face ongoing physical, psychological, and financial challenges after treatment ends — yet survivorship care remains inconsistent and underprioritized. Without deliberate infrastructure investment, even the best-designed standards risk becoming aspirational documents rather than lived realities for patients.
