ChristianaCare Health System

ChristianaCare’s Helen F. Graham Cancer Center & Research Institute
Newark, DE

A Model for Embedding Primary Care in Oncology

Debra Delaney MSN, FNP-BC, Primary Care Nurse Practitioner
ChristianaCare Health System, Helen F. Graham Cancer Center & Research Institute

This person-centered model of care embeds a primary care provider (PCP) in the cancer clinic to see patients with comorbidities who are in active treatment and who report having no PCP. In the first six months of this pilot, oncologists referred more than 70 patients to this nurse practitioner (NP). When patients complete active treatment, the NP can connect them with a PCP outside the cancer clinic to help support their transition to survivorship care. Learn how this interdepartmental collaboration between the oncology service line and the department of family medicine reaped across-the-board benefits including improved patient access and care coordination, decreased levels of patient stress, the ability to quickly and efficiently address comorbidities and other health concerns, and a reduction in treatment delays.