Examining virtual cancer care in Ontario: Integrating big data, machine learning, and patient perspectives to explore compassionate care delivery and access

Patients receiving treatment for cancer may experience symptoms related to their disease and therapies. Traditionally, doctors see patients in-person to manage these symptoms, but these visits can be costly and time-consuming for patients and caregivers. Virtual care delivery via telephone and videoconferencing increased during the COVID-19 pandemic, but the ideal balance with in-person care remains unclear. Katherine’s study will use provincial health services data, patient survey responses, and a variety of machine learning approaches, to examine how virtual care is used by cancer patients living in Ontario. It will describe different ways virtual care is delivered, and survey patients to determine which approaches best reflect compassionate care. Finally, Katherine and her team will develop models to identify who is most likely to receive patient-preferred care patterns.