A comprehensive, population-based regional health care management program for men with prostate cancer who are members of Kaiser Permanente Southern California has led to improved outcomes, according to a Kaiser Permanente study published today in the journal Urology Practice.
"While prostate cancer is the second-leading cause of cancer death among men, providing high quality care for men living with prostate cancer presents a challenge," said study lead author Ronald K. Loo, MD, regional chief of urology, Southern California Permanente Medical Group. "Increased survival rates have made prostate cancer similar to other chronic conditions, which means we need ongoing management strategies that span the natural history and clinical course of the disease."
Kaiser Permanente Southern California developed the prostate cancer care program in 2003. It is focused on screening and prevention, shared decision making for treatment following diagnosis and care improvement for men with localized and advanced disease. Specifically, the improvements made to the health care delivery model include:
"This comprehensive, regional care management program has proven to deliver reliable improvement in the way a health care organization approaches prostate cancer care," said Dr. Loo. "We believe that other health care providers and organizations may wish to adopt aspects of this program, as clinicians treating men with prostate cancer aim to provide the highest quality, affordable care."
This research is part of Kaiser Permanente's continuing efforts to broaden the medical community's understanding of prostate cancer. Last fall, a Kaiser Permanente study found that men who are overweight or obese when they are diagnosed with prostate cancer are more likely to die from the disease than men who are of healthy weight. Also last year, Kaiser Permanente researchers discovered that measurements taken over time of PSA, the most commonly used screening test for prostate cancer in men, improve the accuracy of aggressive prostate-cancer detection when compared to a single measurement of PSA.
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