INTRODUCTION: The advent of the COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted the need to expand options for home-based cancer care. For 40 years, millions of patients have selected the home setting to administer infused medications citing improved quality of life and less risk of health care-acquired infections. National Home Infusion Association (NHIA) estimates that approximately 132,500 patients received home infusions of chemotherapy agents in 2019. The purpose of this study was to quantify the level of patient satisfaction and to determine the reason for discontinuation from home infusion services for home infused chemotherapy patients. This data is useful for both physician and patient considering cancer care at home. Methodology: The Uniform Patient Satisfaction Survey for Home Infusion Providers used in this study was developed by the National Home Infusion Foundation (NHIF) using Delphi methodology to validate and test-retest to verify reliability of the 12-question, 22-data point survey. Providers submitted data between 2019-2021. Chemotherapy patient data (n=328) was extrapolated from the data set (n=17,016). Top box (the highest-rated option for the given survey question) percent was calculated for each survey question along with the mean (SD) for questions utilizing a Likert scale. Three parameters are used to assess the safety of home infusion: percentage of patients with an adverse drug reaction (ADR), unplanned hospitalization, or completed therapy. NHIF collected an additional six other discharge reason variables. Chemotherapy patient data (n=153) was pulled from the aggregate home infusion data set (n=6,637). Results: The highest satisfaction % was observed in the “Patients understanding of who to call if they needed help” and “Patient instructions” questions which averaged 97.08% (Yes/No) (Table 1). The most common health care satisfaction question, “I was satisfied with the overall quality of the services provided,” used a 5-point Agree-Disagree response scale and had a mean score of 4.69 (SD=0.57), a top box score of 73.21%, and a top 2 box score of 96.89% (Table 2). Patients were discharged because their therapy was completed per physician orders (89.54%). No patients were discontinued due to an ADR and 6 (3.92%) had an unplanned hospitalization (Table 3). Conclusion: The results show that home infusion patients are satisfied with services, understand medication instructions, and 89.54% of the patients completed their therapy with no ADR.
HSR22-168 Table 1. Home Infusion Chemotherapy Patient Satisfaction Survey Results: 2019, 2020, 2021 (Q1 & 2) (n=328)
