SARS-CoV-2 Transmission in Patients With Cancer at a Tertiary Care Hospital in Wuhan, China

Abstract

Because Choosing Wisely guidelines are against the provision of systemic chemotherapy for patients with terminalstage cancer, 5 the decreased chemotherapy utilization in hospices may be appropriate. However, the dramatic reductions in radiotherapy expenses and in the proportion of hospices providing radiotherapy are alarming. Our findings highlight the concern that patients with cancer in recent years might have postponed enrolling in hospice until the very end of life so that they could continue to receive palliative treatments. 6 Our analyses have several limitations. Our findings, limited to freestanding hospices, cannot be generalized to hospitalaffiliated hospices. Because of data constraints, we could not calculate radiotherapy and chemotherapy expenses per patient with cancer. Additionally, we were unable to determine the factors causing the observed decrease in radiotherapy and chemotherapy expenses. Future research surveying forprofit and nonprofit hospices regarding their practices in these therapies is warranted.