Implementing a systematic approach to meeting patients' cancer and fertility needs: a review of the Fertile Hope Centers Of Excellence program.

Purpose: National guidelines recommend patients with cancer of reproductive age be informed of their risk for infertility resulting from cancer treatment. Despite existing technologies to preserve fertility, many patients report not receiving timely information about fertility risk, and oncology providers report multiple barriers to discussing or referring patients on this topic.

Methods: Nine cancer centers have been recognized as Fertile Hope Centers of Excellence, a designation awarded to cancer centers with an institutionalized approach to addressing fertility issues.

Developing a referral system for fertility preservation among patients with newly diagnosed cancer.

The goal of this project was to develop a referral system to increase the likelihood that patients of childbearing age with newly diagnosed cancer receive timely information about fertility, and reduce the burden oncologists may feel when discussing and exploring fertility preservation options with their patients. The group developed and examined the effectiveness of a fertility preservation referral system through pilot-testing a developed patient education brochure. During the 12-month pilot-testing period, 776 patients of childbearing age (< 40 years) were seen at H.