Boosting telemedicine use in cancer care: passing the baton between the Joint Actions eCAN and eCAN+

Abstract Background Due to inequalities in access to high-quality care, patients affected by cancer experience major differences in outcomes depending on where they reside in the European Union. To mitigate such disparities, the European Commission funded the Joint Action (JA) eCAN with the aim of fostering the adoption of telemedicine (TM) services, which emerged as valuable tools during the COVID-19 pandemic and encompass both teleconsultations and telemonitoring applications. Methods Between 2022 and 2024, the eCAN project conducted literature reviews, surveys, interviews, focus group discussions, a foresight exercise and three pilots in the form of randomised controlled trials to identify barriers to and facilitators of TM uptake, involving diverse stakeholders like payers, patients and patient organisations, healthcare professionals (HCPs), and policymakers. Results As part of its deliverables, the eCAN consortium produced guidelines for all stakeholders, training materials for both patients and HCPs, a mobile application to collect patient-reported outcomes and a dashboard to monitor patients’ data for HCPs. The piloting activities showed that is feasible and beneficial to apply TM solutions in different cancer types and care settings. Based on these results and on the foresight exercise's findings, 16 recommendations were formulated across 6 intervention areas for realising an ideal future scenario where TM is fully embedded into routine practice. Most of the recommendations will be taken up in the JA eCAN+, a successor project starting in 2025 that will also bolster cancer centres’ preparedness for implementing the European Health Data Space. Conclusions The JA eCAN contributed to shaping the future of digital cancer care and its outputs will serve as a foundation for continued efforts under the JA eCAN+. Disclaimer Co-funded by the European Union (grant numbers: 101075326 and 101219434). Views and opinions expressed are however those of the authors only. Key messages • The Joint Action eCAN highlighted that the integration of telemedicine interventions into specific settings of cancer care is feasible and can benefit patients. • The consortium generated actionable recommendations for telemedicine implementation into healthcare systems that will be taken up in a follow-up project, the Joint Action eCAN+, kicking off in 2025.