Speaker
Description
With the publication of the CHALLENGE Trial, in addition to the publication of multiple exercise guidelines from ACS, ACSM, ASCO, ESSA, and other international organizations, the question becomes: how do we broadly implement exercise for all people living with and beyond cancer. In this abstract we focus on the efforts of a large U.S. based health care system (UPMC) to implement exercise oncology as a covered benefit starting January 2027.
The overarching goal is to use exercise oncology to address the quintuple aim of increasing physician satisfaction, decreasing cost savings, improving clinical outcomes, enhancing patient experience, while simultaneously achieving health equity. As of March 2026, the UPMC Commercial Division elected to make exercise oncology a covered benefit for all UPMC employees with breast cancer. A multidisciplinary team is designing the covered benefit, which will start January 2027. There are already systems in place for nurse care managers to reach out to cancer patients to ensure that patients understand their disease and the optimization of its management. The goal of both exercise oncology and these nurse manager efforts are to approach the quintuple aim by decreasing unplanned care. There is published evidence that exercise oncology interventions reduce unplanned care. As part of the effort to roll out exercise oncology as a covered benefit, the plan is to implement exercise oncology by adding it to the nurse care manager system.
As an integrated delivery finance system, UPMC seeks to bring together siloed health care organizations to work as an integrated system to improve care efficiency and effectiveness. Furthermore, the approach allows providers and payers to collaborate in new ways. The collaboration of the Hillman Cancer Center Moving Through Cancer program with the UPMC health plan will lead to the development, implementation, and scaling of novel, evidence-based approaches like adding exercise oncology to nurse care manager efforts. We aim to increase engagement in exercise oncology and nurse care management exponentially increasing the return on investment and providing a covered benefit for exercise oncology in a large US health care system. The executive committee agreed to making exercise oncology a covered benefit starting January 2027. Efforts are underway to design the benefit in a manner that maximizes both reach and effectiveness.
Keywords
exercise, health benefits, cancer, collaboration
| Abstract submitters declaration | yes |
|---|---|
| Conflict of Interest & Ethical Approval | yes |
