TY - JOUR
T1 - COVID-19 pandemic and health care disparities in head and neck cancer
T2 - Scanning the horizon
AU - Graboyes, Evan
AU - Cramer, John
AU - Balakrishnan, Karthik
AU - Cognetti, David M.
AU - López-Cevallos, Daniel
AU - de Almeida, John R.
AU - Megwalu, Uchechukwu C.
AU - Moore, Charles E.
AU - Nathan, Cherie Ann
AU - Spector, Matthew E.
AU - Lewis, Carol M.
AU - Brenner, Michael J.
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2020 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
PY - 2020/7/1
Y1 - 2020/7/1
N2 - The COVID-19 pandemic has profoundly disrupted head and neck cancer (HNC) care delivery in ways that will likely persist long term. As we scan the horizon, this crisis has the potential to amplify preexisting racial/ethnic disparities for patients with HNC. Potential drivers of disparate HNC survival resulting from the pandemic include (a) differential access to telemedicine, timely diagnosis, and treatment; (b) implicit bias in initiatives to triage, prioritize, and schedule HNC-directed therapy; and (c) the marked changes in employment, health insurance, and dependent care. We present four strategies to mitigate these disparities: (a) collect detailed data on access to care by race/ethnicity, income, education, and community; (b) raise awareness of HNC disparities; (c) engage stakeholders in developing culturally appropriate solutions; and (d) ensure that surgical prioritization protocols minimize risk of racial/ethnic bias. Collectively, these measures address social determinants of health and the moral imperative to provide equitable, high-quality HNC care.
AB - The COVID-19 pandemic has profoundly disrupted head and neck cancer (HNC) care delivery in ways that will likely persist long term. As we scan the horizon, this crisis has the potential to amplify preexisting racial/ethnic disparities for patients with HNC. Potential drivers of disparate HNC survival resulting from the pandemic include (a) differential access to telemedicine, timely diagnosis, and treatment; (b) implicit bias in initiatives to triage, prioritize, and schedule HNC-directed therapy; and (c) the marked changes in employment, health insurance, and dependent care. We present four strategies to mitigate these disparities: (a) collect detailed data on access to care by race/ethnicity, income, education, and community; (b) raise awareness of HNC disparities; (c) engage stakeholders in developing culturally appropriate solutions; and (d) ensure that surgical prioritization protocols minimize risk of racial/ethnic bias. Collectively, these measures address social determinants of health and the moral imperative to provide equitable, high-quality HNC care.
KW - COVID-19
KW - head and neck cancer
KW - health care delivery
KW - racial and ethnic disparities
KW - social determinants of health
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U2 - 10.1002/hed.26345
DO - 10.1002/hed.26345
M3 - Article
C2 - 32562325
AN - SCOPUS:85087312337
SN - 1043-3074
VL - 42
SP - 1555
EP - 1559
JO - Head and Neck
JF - Head and Neck
IS - 7
ER -