People in remote or rural locations often struggle to access high-quality cancer care. With pilot funding from Conquer Cancer, one program in rural Montana aims to change that.

Around the nation, patients in rural areas face a higher rate of cancer death than in urban communities—despite having fewer new cases overall. While there are multiple contributing factors, one of the most significant is access: Only 5.6% of the nation’s oncologists practice in rural areas, where 15 percent of U.S. residents live.

It’s a particularly stark reality in places like Montana, a state with just over 1 million residents—and only 81 oncologists. Of those practitioners, an estimated 90 percent practice in regional cancer centers 60-plus miles away from patients in rural areas. This means rural patients are more likely to experience detrimental delays and obstacles in the pursuit of high-quality cancer care. It’s exactly the problem that one innovative pilot program aims to correct.

Making oncology care accessible for every patient, everywhere  

Launched with funding from Conquer Cancer, the ASCO Foundation, the Increasing Access to Cancer Care in Rural Montana program aims to mitigate geographic barriers to care, improve care delivery through staff training, and enable rural medical facilities to serve as primary points of contact for patients in southwest Montana.  

The program employs a hub-and-spoke model to deliver care through its relationship with Bozeman Deaconess Cancer Center. As the hub, Bozeman provides a full array of cancer care services, enabling the delivery of chemotherapy infusion at Barrett Hospital and HealthCare (the spoke), a critical access hospital with limited resources.  

"In many rural communities, access to specialized health care services is limited due to geographic and resource constraints," says Carolyn Hansen, chief clinical officer (CCO) at Barrett Hospital.  

The result? Better access to lifesaving care for remote patients

In addition to offsetting the costs of infrastructure enhancements and training for non-oncology care team members, the program is improving local patients’ access to chemotherapy treatment and high-quality care. The program is also helping to mitigate the distance- and travel-related barriers to care commonly experienced by patients at Barrett, which has previously been unable to offer chemotherapy infusion.  

Perhaps most importantly, the program has significant potential to make an impact beyond the boundaries of rural Montana, as program staff document progress, challenges, and opportunities so that the model can be scaled and replicated elsewhere.  

"This partnership will help improve patient outcomes, reduce the need for patients to travel long distances for cancer treatment, and increase awareness and education about cancer prevention and care within the rural community," Hansen says. "Such collaborations can significantly improve the overall standard of health care and ensure that [patients in rural areas] receive timely and effective cancer treatments close to home, surrounded by the support of their local community and loved ones, which contributes to better health outcomes."