The UC san diego health suspicion of cancer clinic.

e18528 Background: Physicians at UC San Diego Moores Cancer Center (MCC), like at many major cancer centers in the United States, are subspecialized by tumor type. Patients with symptoms concerning for cancer, but without a diagnosis, often face challenges in establishing care with an oncologist, which can potentially lead to delays in diagnosis and treatment. Methods: At our institution, we created a Suspicion of Cancer (SOC) clinic for referral of patients who have symptoms concerning for cancer, but without a definitive diagnosis of malignancy. The purpose of the clinic is to facilitate establishment of a diagnosis and access to an oncologist in a timely manner. We created an order for referral in our electronic medical record system that enables any provider to refer to patients to the SOC clinic. Once a referral is placed, a hematologist-oncologist or medical oncologist reviews the case and approves the patient for an appointment with the SOC clinic. Results: Between January 2022 and November 2022, we received 107 unique referrals to the SOC clinic. The average age of referred patients was 64 years, with 50 (46.7%) females and 57 (53.3%) males. Thirty-four (31.2%) referrals were from primary care doctors, 23 (21.5%) from hospital medicine, 22 (20.6%) from emergency medicine, 15 (14.0%) from medical subspecialties or neurology, 11 (10.3%) from surgery or surgical subspecialties, and 1 (0.93%) that was self-referred. Thirty (28.0%) patients already had definitive diagnosis of malignancy from either our institution or an outside institution, while 77 (72.0%) did not have a diagnosis at time of referral. Of the 107 referrals, 21 (19.6%) did not follow up with a medical oncologist or hematologist-oncologist within our health system. Reasons for not following up included insurance status, establishing care elsewhere, failed attempts to contact patients, or no shows to established clinic appointments. One patient was already established with a hematologist-oncologist within the MCC prior to referral. Eighty-six (80.4%) patients were seen in new consultation by a medical oncologist or hematologist-oncologist at our institution. After referral, the average time to consultation with a medical oncologist or a hematologist-oncologist was 15.3 days. In the 77 cases without diagnosis at time of referral, 39 (50.6%) underwent biopsy, while 38 (49.4%) were deemed to not require biopsy or declined biopsy. Twenty-five (32.5%) patients were diagnosed with cancer and 52 (67.5%) either did not have biopsy or had a negative biopsy. Ninety-two (86.0%) of the 107 referred patients were alive at time of analysis, while 15 (14.0%) were deceased. Conclusions: The MCC SOC clinic offers a referral pathway to expedite diagnosis and access to care for new oncology patients. In continuing to collect data related to the above outcomes, we hope to identify barriers to the delivery of oncologic care and improve patient outcomes.