Tatjana Kolevska, MD, shares with Becker’s how health systems can deliver patient-centered cancer care

Ensuring patients get the preventative cancer care and treatment they want and need is an ongoing process at Kaiser Permanente, Tatjana Kolevska, MD, said during a panel discussion at a recent Becker’s Healthcare Oncology Virtual Forum.

“We survey our members and patients continuously and we’re realizing that what members would like from prevention of cancer care is shared decision-making with the providers,” said Dr. Kolevska, medical director for Kaiser Permanente’s national Excellence in Cancer Care program and oncologist with The Permanente Medical Group.

Patients want cancer prevention measures that are accessible and convenient, Dr. Kolevska also said during the panel, “How to Deliver the Cancer Care Patients Really Want and Thrive in a Competitive Environment.”

“Patients also say they want to get engaged in lifestyle medicine for cancer prevention,” she said. “They are continuously asking, ‘How can I help myself?’, so we are developing technology tools that empower members to help themselves as much as they can.”

Dr. Kolevska said that Kaiser Permanente’s electronic health record keeps track of each patient’s screening history and notifies them when it’s time for the next one.

To help patients better understand their diagnoses and cancer journeys, several years ago Permanente physicians opened their medical charts so that patients can see their own medical records, including lab results, scans, and other reports. Because physician notes can be technical, “we are trying to adjust our notes so that the information inside is patient-friendly,” Dr. Kolevska said.

To keep patients informed at every step of their care, “we’re developing comprehensive cancer pathways that are embedded in the electronic medical record, so that at any point, everybody knows what to do,” she added.

Note: To view the entire panel, register at Becker’s Healthcare Oncology Virtual Forum.