Hospital-provided rideshare services could shorten radiation therapy treatment courses
Cancer patients who are offered free hospital-provided rideshare services are more likely to comply with radiation therapy recommendations.
These patients also benefit from shorter courses of radiation therapy, in addition to being exposed to lower doses of ionizing radiation, according to a new study published in the Journal of the American College of Radiology.
Access to reliable transportation is a known healthcare barrier. Patients in need of radiation therapy are especially vulnerable when their transportation is in question because their treatments are typically given over consecutive daily sessions for weeks at a time. Missing these sessions has the potential to negatively impact their outcomes as well as their attitudes relative to their condition and/or treatment options, authors of the new paper explained.
“It is evident that travel distances, and the burden of transportation as a whole, can adversely impact treatment decisions and outcomes for cancer patients undergoing RT,” corresponding author Serah Choi, MD, PhD, of University Hospitals Seidman Cancer Center in Ohio and co-authors noted.
One solution that has been shown to help address issues of transportation for patients is ridesharing services. With ridesharing services, hospitals or clinics arrange for private vehicles for hire to pick up patients and transport them to and from their appointments. This service is either free or offered at a reduced cost for patients and is most often orchestrated by healthcare facilities.
To better understand how offering rideshare services might impact RT completion, Choi and colleagues analyzed the cases of 63 patients who underwent 73 courses of radiation at their facility. In total, 537 rides were included in their assessment.
The team found that the patients who most often utilized ridesharing services were not employed (91%) and single (83%), and a little over half were insured through Medicaid. Of the rideshare-facilitated treatments, 100% were completed, with an overall course completion rate of 97.3%. In comparison, those who did not use rideshare services often recorded an overall completion rate of 85.4%.
Patients who utilized rideshare services at least 45% of the time during their treatments were also found to have significantly shorter treatment courses compared to those who did not often use the service. The median rideshare cost $13.04.
The authors noted that a large portion of the patients included in their analysis lived in resource-limited areas. Rideshare services increased treatment completion rates among this population, and although the service does come at a cost to healthcare facilities, the authors maintained that these expenses are modest in comparison to the revenue they could facilitate.
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In addition to her background in journalism, Hannah also has patient-facing experience in clinical settings, having spent more than 12 years working as a registered rad tech. She joined Innovate Healthcare in 2021 and has since put her unique expertise to use in her editorial role with Health Imaging.