Multidisciplinary Collaboration Advances Breast Cancer Care: Jennifer Sheng, MD

At the Washington, DC, Institute for Value-Based Medicine® event, speakers seated on the “Targeted Success: Operationalizing Therapies in Breast Cancer” panel discussed the various ways cross-specialty collaboration helps operationalize newer target therapies for patients with breast cancer.

Panelist Jennifer Sheng, MD, assistant professor of oncology at Johns Hopkins Medicine, explained how her institution facilitates cross-specialty conversations for specific patients with breast cancer, as well as overall workflow and operational strategies.

She described 3 tumor boards at her practice, which engage in frequent meetings that open the floor to numerous physician specialists. The specialists participating in these meetings range from medical oncologists, surgical oncologists, radiologists, pathologists, advanced care providers, and nurse navigators—but there are many more who play a vital role in advancing patient care and practices.

“It’s a quick moment for us to talk about all these newly diagnosed patients that really may need to rely on multiple providers and resources,” Sheng said in an interview with The American Journal of Managed Care^®. “Having a clear place where all of the doctors are coming together and having these conversations about an individual patient up front is really important to make sure that there's coordination of care and uniform recommendations.”

The paths of coordinated care and communication are also imperative when implementing newer targeted therapies as they continue to become available. Care coordination varies depending on the disease stage, like patients with metastatic disease, whose care team is involved throughout their follow-up. By contrast, early-stage patients who complete their treatment often transition away from their oncology teams.

Regardless of disease stage, Sheng emphasized that maintaining connections with primary care and other specialists remains an essential part of survivorship.

“There are so many visits scheduled with medical oncology, they oftentimes forget about the primary care stuff,” she said. “They forget about the gynecology visits. And it's really making sure that they are staying on top of that.”