Access and Models of Care

Abstract

In the last ten years, the scientific community has started to pay increasing attention to the adolescent and young (AYA) adult age group. All over the world, dedicated programs have been founded and implemented at single institutions or as national programs, variously involving healthcare providers, national societies, governments and charitable institutions. A major issue to address regards the model of care to be used, as the traditional pediatric and adult health care systems have shown to be inadequate to deal with these patients’ peculiarities. This chapter discusses the possible models of care and whether a single new model should exist for AYA as well as it could feasibly be implemented; the key themes for an ideal AYA model; the various models of AYA cancer care which have been implemented internationally, with similarities or differences reflecting variations in local medical culture and resources. In addition, this chapter aims to address the way in which various barriers and enablers interact with each component of the definition of access to care, i.e. timeliness, utilization, and structure of health services, to influence outcomes for this patient group.