This project aims to reduce the burden of cancer for patients as well as health care systems. Persons living with cancer (PLC) receive care from multiple specialties delivered in several places and many simultaneous or deferred interventions. They endure the health care system functioning in professional and organizational silos. This leads to undue delays in access, unmet needs, poor care experience, suboptimal clinical outcomes, human and financial costs for PLC and health systems. The creation of network is recommended by national cancer programs in many countries such as Canada in order to coordinate activities to solve fragmentation issues. Networks have potential added-value in terms of improved clinical outcomes for each dollar invested. Variations in network outcomes and the contributing factors at play have been previously described. However, the actions of health professionals and managers all involved toward a common goal has not been well studied and remains poorly understood. The Quebec Cancer Network offers an opportunity to better understand how governance can produce its effects in a real world setting.

Prof. Tremblay and Prof. Touati’s team aims to analyse how, why, by whom, for whom and in what conditions the actions of the overall network contribute to transforming the clinical and managerial practices, and produce added-value effects for PLC and for the health system. To do so, their team will hear from various stakeholders through interviews and questionnaires. They will also analyse the costs associated with the use of services. Their study will produce new information readily usable by network managements to steer decisions toward optimizing health outcomes while reducing the financial burden of cancer.