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Tomorrow’s Cure: The future of cancer care is at home
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For many cancer patients, treatment can be an isolating and overwhelming journey — marked by fear, fatigue and the constant burden of travel. But what if chemotherapy could be delivered at home? In this episode, we explore the movement to bring cancer care into the comfort of patients' homes. Could this shift not only ease the experience but also improve outcomes?
This week's episode of Tomorrow’s Cure features insights from Dr. Roxana Dronca, hematologist, oncologist and director of Mayo Clinic in Florida Comprehensive Cancer Center; and Dr. Arif Kamal, chief patient officer for the American Cancer Society.
According to the American Cancer Society, someone in the U.S. is diagnosed with cancer every 15 seconds. That staggering statistic drives the urgent push for more patient-centered, accessible care models. But what does that look like in practice?
For Dr. Dronca, this mission is personal — her daughter's cancer diagnosis revealed just how taxing traditional care can be. Out of that experience came a passionate commitment to transform how and where cancer care is delivered.
"I think cancer care, part of the scariness of it is how unknown it is, how unfamiliar it is in its approach," said Dr. Kamal. "But what if we could soften it by making components of it actually feel as normal as we can?"
Mayo Clinic's response: Cancer CARE (Connected Access and Remote Expertise) Beyond Walls, a new model offering expert care outside of hospital walls. The initiative minimizes travel and maximizes access by combining in-home services with a Mayo Clinic-based command center staffed by advanced practice providers, nurses and hospitalists. This team remotely coordinates care, ensuring seamless integration with each patient's medical history.
"I see that there is no choice every time I speak about Cancer CARE Beyond Walls," stated Dr. Dronca.
In today's world, "Patients live longer, they need more treatments and we have more cancer diagnoses. We're really being outpaced in our ability to offer treatment to everyone in our physical spaces. So, we either think creatively and design a system where we can get care to more patients and also make the care more patient-friendly, or we build more chemotherapy units."
At-home cancer care isn't just a vision — it's happening now. Join us as we explore this transformative approach to care and what it means for the future of oncology. Listen to the latest episode of Tomorrow's Cure to learn more.
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