Passport for Care® , the vision of Dr. David Poplack, professor of pediatric oncology at Baylor College of Medicine, director of Texas Children's Cancer Center and deputy director of the Dan L. Duncan Cancer Center, empowers pediatric cancer survivors, putting them in charge of their own care and ultimately improving their quality of life.
The Passport for Care application for survivors of childhood cancer is being developed in collaboration with the Children's Oncology Group to address the health care information needs of the estimated 350,000 long-term survivors in the United States.
The National Academy of Medicine and the President's Cancer Panel have identified the provision of comprehensive follow-up medical care to long-term survivors of cancer as a critical national priority.
Child and young adult survivors are often at risk for serious medical problems that result from cancer and its treatment. Obtaining consistent medical follow-up is confounded by several factors:
- Americans change primary health care providers on an average of every two years.
- Survivors themselves are often unfamiliar with the details of their treatment history and are unable to accurately share pertinent medical information with their health care providers.
- Primary care providers are often unfamiliar with cancer treatments or with recommendations regarding surveillance for long-term complications of cancer and cancer therapy.
- In the current health care environment, obtaining consistent follow-up for the survivor population is extremely difficult and has been identified both by the Institute of Medicine and the President's Cancer Panel as a major challenge to our health care system.
If you are interested in learning more about Passport for Care®, email us at survivorconnect@chp.edu.
