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Why Travel for Complex Cancer Surgery? Americans React to ‘Brand-Sharing’ Between Specialty Cancer Hospitals and Their Affiliates

  • Health Services Research and Global Oncology
  • Published:
Annals of Surgical Oncology Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Introduction

Leading cancer hospitals have increasingly shared their ‘brand’ with smaller hospitals through affiliations. Because each brand evokes a distinct reputation for the care provided, ‘brand-sharing’ has the potential to impact the public’s ability to differentiate the safety and quality within hospital networks. The general public was surveyed to determine the perceived similarities and differences in the safety and quality of complex cancer surgery performed at top cancer hospitals and their smaller affiliate hospitals.

Methods

A national, web-based KnowledgePanel (GfK) survey of American adults was conducted. Respondents were asked about their beliefs regarding the quality and safety of complex cancer surgery at a large, top-ranked cancer hospital and a smaller, local hospital, both in the presence and absence of an affiliation between the hospitals.

Results

A total of 1010 surveys were completed (58.1% response rate). Overall, 85% of respondents felt ‘motivated’ to travel an hour for complex surgery at a larger hospital specializing in cancer, over a smaller local hospital. However, if the smaller hospital was affiliated with a top-ranked cancer hospital, 31% of the motivated respondents changed their preference to the smaller hospital. When asked to compare leading cancer hospitals and their smaller affiliates, 47% of respondents felt that surgical safety, 66% felt guideline compliance, and 53% felt cure rates would be the same at both hospitals.

Conclusions

Approximately half of surveyed Americans did not distinguish the quality and safety of surgical care at top-ranked cancer hospitals from their smaller affiliates, potentially decreasing their motivation to travel to top centers for complex surgical care.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Surgery, Yale School of Medicine, New Haven, CT, USA

    Alexander S. Chiu MD, MPH, Benjamin Resio MD & Andres F. Monsalve MD

  2. Cancer Outcomes, Public Policy, and Effectiveness Research Center, Yale School of Medicine, New Haven, CT, USA

    Jessica R. Hoag PhD & Daniel J. Boffa MD

  3. Section of Thoracic Surgery, Department of Surgery, Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven, CT, USA

    Justin D. Blasberg MD, Lawrence Brown MPH & Daniel J. Boffa MD

  4. Yale Center for Analytic Sciences, Yale School of Medicine, New Haven, CT, USA

    Audrey Omar MA

  5. Department of Social and Behavioral Sciences, Yale School of Public Health, New Haven, CT, USA

    Marney A. White PhD, MS

  6. Department of Psychiatry, Yale School of Medicine, New Haven, CT, USA

    Marney A. White PhD, MS

Authors
  1. Alexander S. Chiu MD, MPH
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  2. Benjamin Resio MD
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  3. Jessica R. Hoag PhD
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  4. Andres F. Monsalve MD
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  5. Justin D. Blasberg MD
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  6. Lawrence Brown MPH
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  7. Audrey Omar MA
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  8. Marney A. White PhD, MS
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  9. Daniel J. Boffa MD
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Daniel J. Boffa MD.

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Chiu, A.S., Resio, B., Hoag, J.R. et al. Why Travel for Complex Cancer Surgery? Americans React to ‘Brand-Sharing’ Between Specialty Cancer Hospitals and Their Affiliates. Ann Surg Oncol 26, 732–738 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1245/s10434-018-6868-9

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1245/s10434-018-6868-9

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