Patients are satisfied with 'Cancer Anywhere'
 
Thailand’s National Cancer Institute praises 'Cancer Anywhere' for its success in providing cancer patients with timely and quality treatment.
 
Launched on 1 January 2021, Cancer Anywhere is a health policy that allows cancer patients to get treatment at any hospital regardless of their registries.
 
Under the Universal Coverage Scheme (UCS), beneficiaries’ healthcare benefits are tied to certain hospitals based on their household registries.
 
Changing hospitals ordinarily requiresa transfer approval document from the hospital staff — a process that could take weeks and potentially  delays treatment.
 
This rule is exempted under Cencer Anywhere to help health providers speed up the process of inter-hospital transfers.
 
This progress is made possible by technology such as online data sharing.
 

Dr Supakorn Pitakkarnkul, Deputy Director of the National Cancer Institute, said that the number of cancer patients in the UCS increased slightly in the past two years due to the policy.
 
Many may switch from state to private-run hospitals because they can choose preferable hospitals in the cities where they currently live in.
 
“Our evaluation finds patients receive treatment faster and express satisfaction with the policy.
 
Healthcare providers are also pleased with the outcomes,” said Dr Supakorn.
 
To facilitate the Cancer Anywhere policy, the National Cancer Institute developed a paperless inter-hospital transfer system — in which partnered hospitals share health information and medical records of the patients.
 

It has developed a mobile application, in which health staff can monitor queues in other hospitals, helping them identify the hospitals that can provide treatment on time.
 
The hospital staff also works together by assigning a “cancer coordinator” in each hospital, to coordinate inter-hospital transfer and communicate with patients about the policy and conditions.
 
However, Dr Supakorn said that some challenges remain.
 
One of those is low public’s awareness of the policy, meaning all relevant organizations must put more effort into communicating and promoting it.
 

Some hospitals are used to paper-based inter-hospital transfers and lack digital skills, so adapting to the electronic system is challenging.
 
Data sharing is still limited due to the different methodologies used for data collection in each hospital.
 
To tackle these challenges, Dr Supakorn said his institute will visit hospitals across the country to explain the idea and detail of Cancer Anywhere to hospital staff — hoping they will pass the message to patients.
 
His team will also push for a single-standard data collection system, in which every hospital applies a similar methodology of data collection and shares data across the hospitals seamlessly.
 
As only UCS beneficiaries are eligible for Cancer Anywhere, there is the need to push forward the policy in the other two government healthcare schemes — Social Securirty Scheme (SSS) and Civil Servant Medical benefit Scheme (CSMBS).
 
Around 140,000 new cancer patients emerge in Thailand each year. The most common types of cancer found among the Thai population are liver, gallbladder, lung, breast, colon, and cervical cancer.
 
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