Cancer Series Ep. 1: Access to Care, Financial Toxicity and Healthcare IT in Oncology

There were an estimated 18.1 million cancer cases around the world in 2020, according to the World Cancer Research Fund International. According to the Comparator Report on Cancer in Europe 2020, the absolute number of people diagnosed with cancer rose around 50% in Europe over the past 20 years. However, the number of deaths only increased by 20%. The numbers show we’re making great strides in survival and treatments and early screenings. But because of the aging population, cancer care and prevention are rising global public health concerns. 

In the next few episodes, we’ll talk about cancer, cancer care, and technology, the role of data and IT for improved care and research, AI in the search for new therapies, but also about cancer survivorship: what happens to patients after they are cancer free, but unfortunately far from back to the life they had before cancer. 

Speaker in this episode is David J. Stewart, MD, FRCPC, Professor of Medicine in the Division of Medical Oncology at the University of Ottawa and The Ottawa Hospital. David recently wrote a book titled: A short primer on Why Cancer Still Sucks. Find the book: https://www.amazon.com/Short-Primer-Cancer-Still-Sucks/dp/0228871999 

David talked about the comparison of financial toxicity of cancer for patients in Canada and the US, and the challenges with drug development and access in the two countries; David also talked about his experience with healthcare digitalization and IT systems. 

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