Interpretation of findings
Our study showed that diagnosis and treatment of patients with RC mostly take place in different hospitals. This finding is in line with previous literature on rare cancers. Scandinavian registry studies revealed, for example, that nearly all patients, after being diagnosed with bone sarcoma (derived from the Scandinavian Sarcoma Register [19]) or soft-tissue sarcoma (derived from the Swedish Cancer Registry [20]) are referred to a sarcoma expert center for their treatment [19, 20]. This implies that most patients with RC in our survey are referred to another hospital for treatment in case the hospital of diagnosis is lacking expertise for the treatment of the specific rare cancer type. While such a treatment decision may benefit the patient, it also may lead to fragmentation of care [21].
Focusing specifically on treatment, patients with RC more frequently receive this care in a single hospital compared to patients with CC, probably indicating a certain level of centralization of care for those with a rare tumor type. This is in line with the study by Gatta et al. (2017) on patients with RC, diagnosed in 2000–2007, in seven European countries [5]. Although centralization of care was not completely realized at the time of the study, the authors indicated that the highest centralization patterns were found in Slovenia and in the Netherlands. For example, care for patients diagnosed with bone sarcoma was already highly centralized between 2000–2007 in the Netherlands, i.e., 75% of these patients were seen in only five hospitals. Nowadays, care for these patients is even centralized in four bone tumor centers [22]. Still, while in almost every hospital treatment for CC patients is offered, only a few designated CoE exist in which optimal treatment for patients with RC is available [5, 23]. This centralization of care has been shown to improve disease outcomes for rare cancers [24, 25].
With regard to being treated in multiple hospitals, patients with RC had more negative experiences than patients with CC. Negative experiences of being treated in multiple hospitals might, among others, be explained by delays in care caused by patient referral from one to another hospital [26, 27]. Studies showed that these delays may result in major psychosocial worries and dissatisfaction with the health care system [28–30]. Moreover, negative experiences may be more prevalent in patients with RC compared to patients with CC, since the former often lack a clear cancer care pathway due to fragmentation of care [15, 31, 32].
Regarding second opinion, patients with RC were more often recommended by their physician about the hospital to go to for such a second opinion than patients with CC. A possible explanation for this may be related to the confidence of physicians with offering specific care for patients with RC. For a limited number of rare cancers, centralization of care is present, because of which these physicians are aware of the hospital that provides the best care for this patient. Previous studies on second opinions in breast cancer patients showed that physicians specifically inform those patients who are highly educated and more involved in the decision-making process, and these patients were also more likely to request a second opinion [33, 34]. Accordingly, patients with RC in our study had a higher level of education than CC patients, and thus might be more inclined to learn about second opinion options, or request such an opinion themselves.
Considering hospital choice, patients with RC were more likely than patients with CC to choose a hospital with expertise regarding their cancer type. However, for patients with RC, it remains often unclear where the expertise for their specific cancer type is available due to fragmentation of care. Moreover, CC patients were more likely to choose a hospital close to home than RC patients, but expertise for those patients is in general more accessible close to home. Consequently, patients with RC experience longer travel distances to receive specialized care, but they also showed greater willingness to travel for this specialized care. Previous studies in head and neck cancer patients found, in line with our findings, that those patients were willing to travel significant distances to ensure access to better cancer care [35, 36]. Regardless of the travel distance to the hospital, patients with RC seem to deliberately search for the best available cancer care, while patients with CC have a lower incentive to search for better care beyond their regional hospital.
Limitations and strengths
A strength of the present study is that, to the best of our knowledge, this is the first explorative study showing differences in health care experiences between patients with RC and CC. Other strengths of this study are the comparison of the survey data with cancer registry data from all Dutch cancer patients, which enabled the researchers to investigate the generalizability of the study results, and the large sample size. Yet, results should be interpreted with caution, as statistically significant differences in such a large sample size might not always be clinically relevant.
Several limitations of this study need to be addressed as well. First, participants were mainly recruited through cancer patient organizations and might therefore not be representative for all cancer patients. That is, patients related to these organizations often have a higher educational level, which was also found in our study. Second, the number of RC and CC patients who chose not to complete the survey is unknown, which might have resulted in participation bias. Third, in this study, no data was collected on year of diagnosis and whether patients changed hospitals at their own request or through active referral. As care is constantly changing, patient experiences can be influenced by when diagnosis took place. Fourth, cancer diagnosis was self-reported, and the classification of a cancer being either rare or common was done in retrospect, which might have led to misclassification of patients. Fifth, it should be emphasized that our cross-sectional study merely established associations, and no causal relations. Finally, regarding generalizability, one should be aware that the Dutch health care system and degree of centralization might differ from other countries. On a global level, centralization of rare cancer care is still suboptimal, with the exception of a country such as France where clear organization of rare cancer care exists [37].
Implications for research and clinical practice
Future research on rare and common cancers should classify the cancer type beforehand, using the list of rare cancers as comprised by RARECARENet [38]. Also, researchers should aim to include a generic group of patients with RC and CC in future studies, i.e., a higher percentage of male and low educated patients in our study sample would have given a more accurate representation of the overall group of cancer patients. Further, longitudinal studies on health care experiences between RC and CC patients should be conducted to enable assessment of causal relationships. Finally, in order to reduce heterogeneity, researchers should further examine differences between patients with RC and CC by site.
With regard to clinical practice, observed differences in health care experiences between patients with RC and CC could be reduced by establishing regional clinical networks and ensuring appropriate care to all rare cancer patients regardless their point of access. Such a network could, among others, simplify and accelerate referrals, which may diminish challenges patients with RC are facing during their patient journey. Health care providers can play an important role in this by developing a clear patient pathway, giving support during the whole cancer trajectory and, if necessary, proper referral to CoE. Herewith, they support similar access and continuity of health care for both patients with RC and CC.