Creating Virtual Integration and Improved Oncology Care Quality Through a Co-Management Services Agreement.

Purpose: Implementation of a co-management services agreement (Co-MSA) creates agreed-upon cancer care delivery quality metrics, a forum for discussion of service line oversight, and virtually integrated care without institutional employment of oncologists. The goal of this project was to demonstrate that a Co-MSA improved predefined quality metrics and provided enhanced communications between a health system's oncology service line and a group of independent oncologists.

Methods: Iterative planning discussions were scheduled biweekly over an 18-month period.

Comparison of menopausal symptoms during the first year of adjuvant therapy with either exemestane or tamoxifen in early breast cancer: report of a Tamoxifen Exemestane Adjuvant Multicenter trial substudy.

Purpose: Hormonal breast cancer treatment increases menopausal symptoms in women. This study investigated differences between the symptoms associated with either adjuvant tamoxifen or exemestane.

Patients And Methods: Ten common symptoms were assessed by self-report questionnaire administered to 1,614 consecutive patients at baseline and every 3 months during the first year of a double-blind, randomized trial of postmenopausal women with early hormone receptor-positive breast cancer.