Using telehealth during cancer treatment
Tele-oncology can support treatment education, symptom assessment, and palliative care while coordinating in-person services when needed.
On this page:
Supporting and responding to distress
Patients may experience physical, emotional, or social distress during cancer care. Telehealth can support distress screening, follow-up assessments, counseling, and referrals.
Supporting cancer treatment with telehealth
Telehealth can support care before, between, and after cancer treatment. It does not replace administration of treatments, procedures, imaging, laboratory testing, or hands-on examinations. Depending on the patient’s needs and treatment plan, you may use telehealth to:
- Conduct treatment assessments. Review medical history to date, current medications, and lab or imaging results in a telehealth visit by video or over the phone.
- Provide treatment education. Walk patients and caregivers through what to expect from cancer treatments such as chemotherapy and radiation. Telehealth visits can be scheduled in advance of treatment or offered when questions arise.
- Assess symptoms and side effects. Evaluate common cancer and treatment-related symptoms and side effects.
- Support cancer therapies taken by mouth or injections that are given at home. Use telehealth visits to review how patients are managing their treatment at home and assess side effects.
- Coordinate services. Use telehealth to facilitate participation by members of the multidisciplinary care team.
- Report symptoms and health measurements using remote monitoring tools. Use patient-reported symptom tools and connected devices to collect information such as symptoms, weight, blood pressure, and temperature between visits.
Providing palliative care with telehealth
Palliative care helps address the symptoms and effects of cancer and its treatment as well as the patients’ emotional needs. It can be provided at any stage of cancer care.
Tele-palliative care, or palliative care conducted through telehealth, uses video, audio-only, and other remote monitoring tools as part of a palliative care plan. It may support continuous monitoring, symptom management, medication management, caregiver support, care coordination, and advance care planning. When providing palliative care through telehealth:
- Determine whether telehealth is appropriate. Consider the patient’s condition, needs, and preferences.
- Offer a choice of care setting. Provide video, audio-only, or in-person options when clinically appropriate.
- Coordinate the care team. Establish communication among oncology and palliative care clinicians.
- Support communication. Confirm that the patient has access to a private space and include caregivers with the patient’s permission.
- Prepare for technology problems. Provide instructions before the visit, identify a contact for technical assistance, and establish a plan for potential technology issues.
More information:
Telehealth for behavioral health care — Health Resources and Services Administration
Adjustment to Cancer: Anxiety and Distress — National Cancer Institute