Telemedicine for Multidisciplinary Urologic Cancer Care: A Prospective Single Institution Study

BACKGROUND We rapidly implemented a telemedicine Multidisciplinary Urologic Cancer Clinic (MDUCC) at the University of Washington/Seattle Cancer Care Alliance during the peak of the COVID-19 Public Health Emergency to maintain our ability to provide multidisciplinary cancer care. We report our experiences though assessment of patient-reported outcomes from our telemedicine MDUCC. METHODS Video visits with a urologic oncologist, medical oncologist, and radiation oncologist were conducted in the same format as our in-person MDUCC. We prospectively collected patient demographic and clinical data. Patients were invited to complete a post-visit survey that assessed satisfaction, provider trust, travel time, and costs of the telemedicine visit. We estimated travel distances and times from each patient's home to our clinic. RESULTS Among invited patients, twenty-four patients completed a survey after their telemedicine MDUCC visit. Twenty patients (83%) were at home during the visit. Most (85%)were men, Caucasian (79%), and were being seen in our Bladder Cancer MDUCC (83%). All twenty-four patients responded that they would be willing to have future appointments via telemedicine; eighteen patients (75%) strongly agreed that the encounter was high quality; 19 patients strongly agreed that they were satisfied with their visit. Patients saved an estimated average one-way travel distance of 145 miles and one-way travel time of 179 minutes to convene a telemedicine visit. CONCLUSIONS Telemedicine MDUCCs are feasible and effective in providing access to multidisciplinary urologic cancer care. Patient satisfaction was high, and many patients were spared a substantial travel burden. Telemedicine may continue to be leveraged to improve access to multidisciplinary urologic cancer care. FUNDING This project is supported by a 2019 Conquer Cancer Young Investigator Award & a Swim Across America Seattle Cancer Care Alliance Young Investigator Award, both to Dr. Gadzinski. Micro Abstract During the 2020 pandemic, we implemented telemedicine in our multidisciplinary urologic cancer clinic (MDUCC) to mitigate the spread of COVID-19. We invited our telemedicine cohort to complete surveys assessing factors like patient satisfaction and estimated visit costs. We found patient satisfaction remained high and the cost burden was diminished, highlighting the great potential utility of virtual care in cancer treatment.