Cost, technology issues are barriers to real-time cancer patient symptom reporting

Capturing real-time reports of cancer patients’ symptoms between doctor’s visits has proven health benefits, but technology and cost barriers are getting in the way of widespread adoption of the practice, reports a University of North Carolina Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center researcher. In a perspective published in the New England Journal of Medicine , Ethan Basch, MD, MSc, addressed the need for – and the barriers preventing – electronic reporting of patients’ symptoms between visits.