Quality of Cancer Care in Switzerland: Going Beyond Traditional Quality Indicators by Collecting Patient-Reported Experiences of Cancer Care

Abstract

Background: High-quality cancer care should be effective, safe, accessible, efficient, equitable, and responsive to patients’ needs. In Switzerland, information on the safety and effectiveness of cancer care is available, but not on responsiveness. Systematic and comprehensive reports from patients on cancer care are missing and needed to complete the assessment of the quality of cancer care.Evidence: Patient-reported experiences of cancer care are key to evaluate responsiveness of care and drive quality improvement initiatives in oncology practice. Studies have found that responsive care leads to more positive experiences of care, which can lead to more effective treatments and health benefits.Policy Options and Recommendations: Our first recommendation is to develop a position statement on the importance and value of patient-reported experiences of cancer care. Our second recommendation is to systematically collect patients’ experiences of cancer care at the national level, through a dedicated national cancer-specific measurement program or through the integration of patient-reported experiences measures in cancer registries.Conclusion: The systematic collection of patient-reported experiences of cancer care provides essential information on what matters to patients in addition to traditional clinical information, including patients as partners of the overall assessment of healthcare performance.