{"entity":{"id":"idea-acc-transition-handoff-medication-reconciliation","kind":"idea","name":"A standard handoff with medication reconciliation at every cancer care transition","aka":[],"tldr":"Cancer care has more handoffs than most conditions, hospital to home, surgery to chemotherapy, oncology back to the family doctor, and information and medications are lost at each. A standard handoff checklist plus pharmacist medication reconciliation covering oral anticancer drugs, steroids, anticoagulants and opioids at every transition would prevent avoidable adverse drug events cheaply.","summary":"Cancer care involves more transitions than most conditions, and each is a point where information and medications are lost or duplicated. Standardised handoff tools and pharmacist-led medication reconciliation reduce adverse drug events in general medicine; oncology-specific versions covering oral anticancer agents, steroids, anticoagulants, and opioids are rare. Implementing them as a required step at defined transitions is inexpensive.","asOf":"2026-09-08","links":[{"label":"Bottleneck evidence (Fragmented care and guideline gaps): Hanna et al., Mortality due to cancer treatment delay: systematic review and meta-analysis (BMJ 2020)","url":"https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.m4087"}],"tags":[],"related":[],"cancers":[],"sections":[],"technologies":[],"targets":[],"drugs":[],"companies":[],"institutions":[],"pathways":[],"terms":[],"trials":[],"people":[],"bottlenecks":["b-care-fragmentation","b-aging-comorbidity","b-toxicity-qol"],"keyPapers":["paper-hanna-bmj"],"journals":[],"dependsOn":[],"notes":[],"hypothesis":"Standard transition handoffs with reconciliation will reduce medication discrepancies at transitions by at least 50% and reduce 30-day readmissions after discharge by 10%.","rationale":"Transition interventions have consistent evidence in heart failure and surgery; oncology patients have higher medication complexity and more transitions.","test":"Run a stepped implementation across a cancer network with discrepancy audits, adverse drug events, and readmissions as endpoints.","maturity":"early-clinical","actor":"clinic","cost":"small","horizonYears":1},"route":"/ideas/idea-acc-transition-handoff-medication-reconciliation/","neighbours":{"bottleneck":[{"id":"b-care-fragmentation","kind":"bottleneck","name":"Fragmented care and guideline gaps","route":"/bottlenecks/b-care-fragmentation/"},{"id":"b-aging-comorbidity","kind":"bottleneck","name":"Older and multimorbid patients are excluded and undertreated","route":"/bottlenecks/b-aging-comorbidity/"},{"id":"b-toxicity-qol","kind":"bottleneck","name":"Toxicity and quality of life are undervalued","route":"/bottlenecks/b-toxicity-qol/"}],"paper":[{"id":"paper-hanna-bmj","kind":"paper","name":"Mortality due to cancer treatment delay: systematic review and meta-analysis","route":"/key-papers/paper-hanna-bmj/"}]}}