Patient Reported Outcomes (PROs) Evaluation and Early Integration of Palliative Care (EIPC)

The Partnership is supporting ten partners across Canada to implement projects to improve quality of life for persons affected by cancer through symptom screening and earlier identification of palliative patients. These initiatives are focused on three areas: patient-reported outcomes (PROs), early integration of palliative care (EIPC), and PROs plus EIPC.

The current challenge is that palliative care services are not fully integrated within the health-care system and referrals are usually late in the disease process, despite guidelines recommending early integration. EIPC for patients with newly diagnosed lung and gastrointestinal cancers (typically high symptom burden illnesses) has been shown to lead to improvements in depression and aspects of quality of life for both patients and family caregivers. The benefits of early, integrated palliative care models in oncology care extend beyond patient outcomes and are also beneficial to the health care system with decreased time in hospital.

Additionally, a recent survey revealed that Canadians feel strongly that access to palliative care should be available to all Canadians; that increased education and capacity for palliative and end-of-life care should be available to providers; and that the use of patient reported outcomes (PROs) by clinicians in routine care is essential for effective management of physical symptoms and emotional distress. There is evidence that shows measuring indicators of physical and emotional symptoms at the point of care will lead to improved quality of life for patients with cancer and their families, and it will assist in quantifying the burden of care leading to future improvements.

Responsibilities of the Partnership

• Providing specifics on evaluation vision, expectations, and quality
• Collection and analysis of all quantitative performance measurement data
• Leading engagement efforts with funded partners
• Development and implementation of an economic evaluation including the collection of all necessary data inputs (implemented by health economic evaluation pre-qualified vendor)

Responsibilities of the successful Proponent

• Developing evaluation execution project plan/ timeline, stakeholder engagement process/ method and workback schedule
• Developing qualitative data collection tools
• Developing and analyzing the health care provider survey (survey administered by the Partnership)
• Supporting engagement efforts with funded partners and engagement materials
• Collection and analysis of qualitative data
• Synthesis of all evaluation inputs, including the incorporation of findings from the health economic evaluation
• Delivery of final evaluation products

Audiences and intended uses

The Partnership and its programs: As one of its largest scale-up interventions across Canadian jurisdictions, the Partnership is interested in understanding the collective impact of this work but will also leverage the results to inform the ways in which it will play a role in supporting this work moving forward. Lessons learned from an implementation perspective may also be used to inform future work at the Partnership.

PROs/EIPC Funded Partners: It is anticipated the results of this evaluation be utilized by funded partners to demonstrate their individual and collective success in the implementation of routine patient reported outcome tools and or processes to support earlier integration of palliative care with their patient populations. Partners will likely leverage results to inform regional or jurisdictional decision making as additional scale up and spread to disease sites or cancer centers may be considered.

**Proponents should reference this RFP number (RFP No. RP450-2020-01) in the subject line of their correspondence. **

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