Associations of multimorbidity and patient-reported experiences of care with conservative management among elderly patients with localized prostate cancer.

Background: Many elderly localized prostate cancer patients could benefit from conservative management (CM). This retrospective cohort study examined the associations of patient-reported access to care and multimorbidity on CM use patterns among Medicare Fee-for-Service (FFS) beneficiaries with localized prostate cancer.

Methods: We used linked Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results cancer Registry, Medicare Claims, and the Medicare Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems (MCAHPS) survey files.