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PURPOSE Among patients receiving chemotherapy, symptom monitoring with electronic patient-reported outcomes (ePROs) is associated with improved clinical outcomes, satisfaction, and compliance with therapy. Standard approaches for ePRO implementation are not established, warranting evaluation in community cancer practices. We present implementation findings of ePRO symptom monitoring across a large multisite community oncology practice network. METHODS Patients initiating a new systemic therapy at one of the 210 practice sites at Texas Oncology were invited to use the Navigating Cancer ePRO platform, with stepped-wedge implementation from July to December 2020. Participating patients received a weekly prompt by text message or e-mail to self-report common symptoms and well-being. Severe self-reported symptoms triggered a real-time notification to nursing triage to address the symptom. Enrollment and compliance were systematically tracked weekly with evaluation of barriers and facilitators to adoption and sustainability. RESULTS Four thousand three hundred seventy-five patients planning systemic treatment were enrolled and participated. Seventy-three percent (1,841 of 2,522) of enrolled patients completed at least one ePRO assessment. Among these individuals, 64% (16,299 of 25,061) of available weekly ePRO assessments were completed. Over a 10-week period, compliance declined from 72% to 52%. Barriers currently being addressed include lack of a second reminder text or e-mail prompt, inconsistent discussion of reported ePROs by clinicians at visits, and COVID-related changes in workflow. Facilitators included ease of use and patient and staff engagement on the importance of PROs for symptom management. CONCLUSION ePROs can be effectively implemented in community oncology practice. Utilization of ePROs is high but diminishes over time without attention to barriers. Ongoing work to address barriers and optimize compliance are underway.

This study describes the prevalence and persistence of fatigue among a cohort of long-term non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL) survivors. Mailed surveys assessed quality-of-life including fatigue (SF-36) at baseline and five years. Logistic regression was used to identify factors associated with prevalence of fatigue at baseline and persistence of fatigue across timepoints. More than one-quarter (27.7%) of the 555 NHL survivors reported clinically meaningful fatigue at baseline and 18.7% reported persistent fatigue at five years. One-third (34.4%) reported clinically meaningful worsening of fatigue over time. Independent associations with persistent fatigue included female gender, less education, past chemotherapy, increased comorbidities, and posttraumatic stress symptoms (P

49 Background: Oncology providers and patients benefit from evidence-based nutritional resources to support cancer care. For patients, proper nutrition care can prevent inappropriate weight loss, improve treatment tolerance, and improve quality of life. Recent literature has noted the lack of both adequate dietitian resources at outpatient centers and comprehensive nutrition guidelines in cancer care. At a large community practice with 210 locations across Texas and Oklahoma, a survey was developed and administered to assess nutrition practices. Methods: Clinic directors in the practice completed a survey to assess for the presence or absence of a malnutrition screen; how nutrition concerns are addressed; and the availability of a dietitian. Results: A total of 26 responses detailed the nutrition processes at 50 unique locations. At 37 (74%) locations, a malnutrition screening tool was utilized and of these, 30 (81%) locations reported utilizing the Malnutrition Screening Tool (MST), a brief, validated tool for outpatient settings including oncology. Seven (19%) sites did not specify what tool was used. Of the clinics that reported completing a malnutrition screen for patients, the screen was completed by the advanced practice provider (APP)/physician in 18 (49%) clinics, a nurse in 4 (11%) clinics, a dietitian in 4 (11%) clinics and a medical assistant in 1 (3%) clinic. At 10 sites more than one provider type was responsible for completing the screen. Nutrition issues were addressed by physicians, APPs, and nurses in 15 (50%), 35 (70%), and 9 (14%) sites respectively (see table). Twenty-two locations (44%) reported referring patients to a dietitian and 10 sites (20%) had a dietitian available in clinic. Forty-one (82%) clinics employed more than one method for addressing nutrition issues. Sixteen of 26 respondents (62%) reported that increased dietitian access would be helpful; this included respondents whose locations already had a dietitian available. Conclusions: Overall, 74% of reporting locations used a malnutrition screening tool and 20% had access to a dietitian on site. Forty-four percent of sites referred to a dietitian if there was a need. This indicates that multiple providers are involved in the nutritional care of oncology patients. In response to these findings, the multidisciplinary PECAN Taskforce was created to develop comprehensive malnutrition screening, implement a referral process for all at-risk patients, enhance nutrition education, and expand dietitian services. Further study will measure the impact of expanded nutrition access on patient outcomes.[Table: see text]

1578 Background: Value-based care models such as the Oncology Care Model incentivize practices to reduce hospitalizations and emergency department (ED) visits. Texas Oncology found that most ED visits occurred during regular business hours. Prolonged patient call back times were consistently rated poorly on satisfaction surveys and often led to ED visits for symptoms that could be managed in our offices. We partnered with Navigating Cancer (NC) to implement an electronic patient management technology solution. Methods: For each of our 200 locations, call volume was estimated based on clinic volume. We then reallocated or hired dedicated triage nurses and operators. Incoming calls were entered into the NC dashboard by operators as incidents which were routed based on symptom priority following system generated prompts. Incident volumes and resolution times were tracked. We instituted PDSA cycles at all locations with a goal of less than 90-minute resolution of symptom-related incidents Utilizing the electronic dashboard allowed us to continue this initiative during the COVID-19 public health emergency as our staff could work remotely. Nurses were able to document if a potential ED visit was avoided. These data points allowed our practice to establish comprehensive and strategic actions plans for quality improvement. Results: We finalized implementation of the system in February of 2020. Total incidents for 2020 were over 1 million, averaging over 5000 per location. Resolution time for all incidents started at 3.2 hours pre-implementation and improved to 2.2 hours in December of 2020. Resolution times for symptom-related incidents started at 2.3 hours pre-implementation and ended at 1.5 hours in December of 2020 with over 60% resolved under one hour. 8% of symptom-related incidents resulted in definite or probable ED avoidances by nursing assessment. Shortness of breath, vomiting, chills, and weakness were the top symptom types addressed for ED avoidances. Conclusions: An electronic patient management solution with PDSA cycles of quality improvement can markedly reduce call back times, especially for symptom related calls. We believe managing symptoms in a timely fashion will lower ED visits and hospitalizations as well as improve patient satisfaction. We will report on these outcomes once available.[Table: see text]

12103 Background: Among patients receiving chemotherapy, symptomatic adverse event monitoring with electronic patient-reported outcomes (ePRO) is associated with improved clinical outcomes, satisfaction, and compliance with therapy. Standard approaches for ePRO implementation are not established warranting evaluation in community cancer practices. Objective: Evaluate implementation of ePRO symptom monitoring across a large multi-site community oncology practice network. Methods: Patients initiating a new systemic therapy at one of 210 practice sites in the Texas Oncology Practice were invited to use in the Navigating Cancer ePRO platform, with rolling implementation from July-December 2020. Participating patients received a weekly prompt by text message or email (patient choice) to self-report common symptoms and well-being via web or smartphone. Severe self-reported symptoms triggered a real-time notification alert to nursing triage to address the symptom. Enrollment and compliance were systematically tracked weekly with evaluation of barriers and facilitators to adoption and sustainability. Results: 4375 patients planning systemic treatment enrolled and participated, with baseline characteristics are shown in Table 1. 73% (1841/2522) of enrolled patients with follow up completed at least one ePRO assessment, and among these individuals, 65% (8762/25061) of all available weekly ePRO assessments were completed. Over a 10-week period, compliance with weekly symptom reporting declined from 72% to 52%. Patients on oral therapy had higher compliance rates overall. Barriers currently being addressed include lack of a second reminder text/email prompt, inconsistent discussion of reported ePROs by clinicians at visits, and COVID-related changes in workflow. Facilitators included patient and staff engagement on the importance of PROs for symptom management. Conclusions: ePROs can be effectively implemented in community oncology practice. Utilization of ePROs is high, but diminishes over time without attention to barriers. Ongoing work to address barriers and optimize compliance are underway.[Table: see text]

e20053 Background: Fatigue is a common and distressing effect of cancer and its treatment. Prior research suggests fatigue persists long after diagnosis and treatment in non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL) survivors. This study aimed to identify distinct trajectories of fatigue in NHL survivors and predictors of trajectories that could inform clinical care. Methods: Our secondary analysis used data from a longitudinal study of NHL survivors (n = 886) at least 2 years post-diagnosis. Fatigue was measured using the SF-36 vitality subscale across three time points. Prior literature informed the selection of baseline demographic (e.g. age, gender, race) and disease characteristics [e.g. NHL type, comorbidities, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD)] explored as possible predictors of fatigue trajectories. We used group-based trajectory modeling to identify distinct groups of patients experiencing similar patterns of fatigue. Variables significant in bivariate analysis were included in a stepwise multinomial logistic regression to identify factors predictive of group membership. Results: We identified four distinct trajectories that suggest levels of fatigue persist unchanged over time. The Low Fatigue Group (15.6%) experienced less fatigue than the general population. The Population Norm Group (42.5%) experienced a similar level of fatigue to the general population mean. The Significant Fatigue Group (27.5%) experienced fatigue levels almost one standard deviation worse than the general population. The Worst Fatigue Group (14.3%) experienced fatigue almost two standard deviations worse than the population norm. PTSD symptoms and comorbidity scores were predictive of levels of fatigue over time. Greater age at diagnosis increases the odds survivors experienced worse fatigue than the population mean (Table). Conclusions: Levels of fatigue experienced early in an NHL patients’ disease trajectory may persist for many years. Higher levels of PTSD symptoms and comorbidities were predictive of worse fatigue over time. Early interventions addressing PTSD symptoms and comorbidities may improve long term fatigue outcomes. [Table: see text]

Background: Little is known about quality of life (QOL), depression, and end-of-life (EOL) outcomes among hospitalized patients with advanced cancer. Objective: To assess whether the surprise question identifies inpatients with advanced cancer likely to have unmet palliative care needs. Design: Prospective cohort study and long-term follow-up. Setting/Subjects: From 2008 to 2010, we enrolled 150 inpatients at Duke University with stage III/IV solid tumors or lymphoma/acute leukemia and whose physician would not be surprised if they died in less than one year. Measurements: We assessed QOL (FACT-G), mood (brief CES-D), and EOL outcomes. Results: Mean FACT-G score was quite low (66.9; SD 11). Forty-five patients (30%) had a brief CES-D score of ≥4 indicating a high likelihood of depression. In multivariate analyses, better QOL was associated with less depression (OR 0.91, p

As patients are living longer after a cancer diagnosis, survivorship is becoming increasingly important in cancer care. The sequelae of multimodality therapies include weight gain and decreased cardiorespiratory fitness, which increase cardiovascular risk. Evidence suggests that physical activity reduces the risk of breast cancer recurrence and death. Avoidance of weight gain after therapy also improves outcomes after a diagnosis of breast cancer. Prospective randomized trials must be performed to determine the benefits of specific physical activity and dietary habits for survivors of breast cancer. This review outlines the important physiologic changes that occur with antineoplastic therapy and the important role of exercise and diet.

97 Background: For cancer patients, the impact of pruritus is not well known, and may be increasing in incidence and severity for those receiving targeted agents. We aimed to describe pruritus in patients with solid tumors, assessing the incidence, pattern, treatments, and associations with cancer types and therapies. Methods: From 2009-2011, patients seen in the Duke Cancer Institute solid tumor clinics directly reported their symptoms on electronic tablets as part of routine care, using Patient Care Monitor 2.0. Of the resulting 17,338 encounters, >1,000 patients reported moderate-severe itching (score of >3 out of 10). The analysis cohort included 215 patients who reported severe itching (>6 out of 10) on at least one visit (total visits = 536). We reviewed charts to abstract demographics, diagnosis, stage, cancer therapy, comorbidities, anti-pruritus therapy, and provider response, and applied descriptive statistics and chi-square analyses. Results: Most patients had advanced disease (56% stage IV), and had breast (36%), lung (23%), kidney (8%), colorectal (6%), or prostate cancer (5%). Thirty percent were not on active therapy, 27% were receiving a targeted therapy, 29% were receiving cytotoxic chemotherapy, and 14% were receiving both. Pruritus persisted in 56% of patients, and resolved but recurred in 10%. Patients receiving chemotherapy were more likely to have severe rather than moderate pruritus (p 0.01), while those receiving targeted drugs were more likely to have persistent pruritus (p 0.03). Potentially high-risk targeted therapies including EGFR inhibitors, multi-kinase inhibitors, and mTOR inhibitors were not associated with severity or persistence of pruritus. Only 20% of patients were receiving an anti-pruritus treatment. Clinicians documented discussing pruritus in just 28% of cases, and addressed it directly only 10% of the time. Only 5% of patients were started on a new anti-pruritus treatment. Conclusions: Pruritus is common among patients with advanced cancer, and occurs across a range of cancer types and treatments. Pruritus is frequently not recognized or addressed by clinicians, and appears to be an unmet palliative care need in oncology.

9525 Background: Hospitalized cancer patients are more likely to have advanced disease and are at risk for poor outcomes, yet little is known about their quality of life (QOL) and rates of depressi...