The study looked at Medicare patients who received surgery for breast, colon, gastric, rectal or thyroid cancer between Jan. 2000 and Dec. 2005, and 90 percent of hospitals met seven of the 11 guideline measures. Fifty percent of hospitals provided guideline-abiding care to all patients for six of the 11 guidelines as well, the study showed.
Researchers found that gastric and colon nodal management had a lower level of concordance with guidelines and reiterated that surgeons “must focus on generating data to define appropriate care and translating those data into everyday practice,” the report said.
Read the Archives of Surgery abstract on Medicare beneficiaries with cancer.
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