Identifying organization-level features important to patient outcomes in cancer care: qualitative interview results with experts

Description

Lafata and colleagues interviewed 12 experts in 2026 to identify which features of a care organization, not of individual doctors, shape cancer patient outcomes. The panel mixed organization theorists, cancer clinicians, and the people who build clinical data warehouses. They were asked which organization-level traits matter, and whether those traits could realistically be captured in existing data systems for research and improvement work.

Four feature families stood out: leadership structure and culture, quality monitoring processes, outside incentives, and the support services an organization provides its patients. Experts stressed deliberate attention to equity, noting the same features that lift quality also tend to lift fairness in who benefits from care. Some features are easy to pull from public records, while others resist extraction, so the authors say progress needs healthcare organizations themselves to share data as partners.

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Source: https://europepmc.org/articles/PMC13479602