Abstract
Patients being treated at higher case volume hospitals or by higher case volume physicians appear to have better outcomes. This volume–outcome relationship is reviewed for oncologic and non-oncologic surgery with a focus on head and neck oncology. The impact of these research findings on health policy and health-care organization in Ontario, Canada, is then outlined. Lastly, future directions for quality improvement in surgical oncology are reviewed in the context of a universal health-care system. These include surgeon report cards, pre-operative checklists, linking funding and remuneration to the quality of delivered care, and the use of process improvement techniques.
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Antoine Eskander, David P. Goldstein, and Jonathan C. Irish declare that they have no conflict of interest.
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This article does not contain any studies with human or animal subjects performed by any of the authors.
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Dr. Antoine Eskander performed research which was supported by a funding from the Chapnik, Freeman and Friedberg Surgeon Scientist Award, the Temmy Latner/Dynacare Chair in Head and Neck Oncology Fund at Mount Sinai Hospital, the Estey Fund from the Princess Margaret Hospital Foundation, the Kevin and Sandra Sullivan Chair in Surgical Oncology Fund, and Department of Otolaryngology – Head and Neck Surgery at the University Health Network.
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This article is part of the Topical Collection on Head and Neck Cancers
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Eskander, A., Goldstein, D.P. & Irish, J.C. Health Services Research and Regionalization of Care—From Policy to Practice: the Ontario Experience in Head and Neck Cancer. Curr Oncol Rep 18, 19 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11912-016-0500-6
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11912-016-0500-6