ECHO Leads the Way in Cancer Community Care
Research shows that community care provides many advantages over care in large health systems or hospital settings:
- Cost: Physician visits cost significantly less than hospital-based practices which add fees to cover overhead costs.
- Convenience: Care is delivered right in your community, in a place close to home.
- Personalization: Patients are treated as a person, not a number.
- Safety: ER visits are reduced and/or avoided, with caring staff always on hand.
- Pricing: In-house dispensing of medications means significantly lower costs than in hospitals.
- Independence: Doctors have the autonomy to make decisions that lead to the best outcome for patients.
- Flexibility: Commumity practices can adapt more quickly to new technology and regulations.
Cancer Care Belongs in the Community
People have misconception that cancer care is only given in large centers. No – top cancer care is given in patients’ local communities. Our patients want local care – they need it and don’t want to travel far distances. And, they shouldn’t have to. That’s the reason we feel so strongly about delivering highest quality, comprehensive care right in their own community. I keep coming back to the word community. And that is because, that is where cancer care should be!
– Dr. Dinesh Kapur
The Cost Effective Choice
Click here for a series of articles from leading oncology experts. They discuss the recent research findings that show how community practices are much more cost effective for patients. Did you know…
- 80% of U.S. cancer patients receive their cancer care in Community cancer centers.
- Physician visits in a hospital-based practice can be up to 4-5 times more costly than in a community setting.
- The cost of chemotherapy in a hospital-based practice can be at least 100-150% higher than in a community setting.
- A hospital system can charge 250-500% more than the actual cost of a prescription drug.
Source: Journal of Clinical Pathways, July 2022
In a series of interviews and articles below, Dr. Dinesh Kapur discusses the value of community care and how important it is to voice the issues that impact our patients throughout this region.
Developing Artificial Intelligence Tools for Patient Care
The American Journal of Managed Care® spoke with Dr. Dinesh Kapur about the value of community oncology, clinical trials, and how staff are spending remote work days developing artificial intelligence (AI) tools for predictive patient analytics to improve cancer care.
The Value of Community Care
In a 2023 inspirational speech, Dr. Kapur shares the importance of community care and why he believes that ECHO is able to deliver all the cutting-edge cancer care services to our patients in a community setting.
Providing Critical Clinical Trials to the Community: The ECHO Footprint
Journal of Clinical Pathways spoke with Dr. Dinesh Kapur, managing partner and director of clinical research, Eastern Connecticut Hematology and Oncology (ECHO) Associates, regarding the unique identity the practice has in the oncology care space as well as its involvement in the OneOncology network.
Why We Joined OneOncology
Dr. Dinesh Kapur, MD talks with The Oncology Business Review about why Eastern Connecticut Hematology & Oncology decided to join OneOncology and the many benefits this provides from a business, infrastructure, and technology standpoint.
Giving Patients a Voice in Our Community
ECHO believes it is essential to advocate for our patients on a local and national level to ensure they receive quality, affordable, and accessible care right in their community. ECHO recognizes the importance of patients being able to advocate for themselves to ensure they continue to have access to high-quality, affordable care in their communities. That is why we are proud to be Connecticut’s first and only community oncology practice that has launched a chapter of the Community Oncology Alliance Patient Advocacy Network (CPAN).