Symptom Management, Quality of Life and Satisfaction With Care for Advanced Stage Cancers - Control Arm

Symptom Management, Quality of Life and Satisfaction with Care for Advanced Stage Cancers is the first part of a two part study (The Lancaster Cancer Care Model (LCCM) - Non-Concurrent Control Study). The primary aim of the study is to compare the proportion of advanced cancer patients who have a hospitalization or emergency department visit in the last 6 months of life before and after implementation of a new care model that provides more comprehensive symptom management and supportive care, including earlier referral to palliative care. The secondary comparative aim is to assess measures of quality of life and satisfaction in both groups. This current study is to collect data on the control group only. After system redesign, we will open an intervention arm study to collect data after implementation of the new care model (about 18-24 months from start of control phase).