Second opinions matter. It’s why people rarely shop for major purchases, like a house or a car, alone. But second opinions become critical in cancer care, in which 40% of treatment plans aren’t consistent with current guidelines.
While a second opinion helps steer patients to effective treatment plans, cancer care requires more than making a single decision. Rather, patients and their families must make a series of complex decisions in a timely manner throughout the course of the cancer journey.
Because cancer research is rapidly evolving, effective patient treatment plans should include ongoing expert review to ensure care remains aligned with the latest evidence at every stage.
Why Cancer Decisions Don’t End After Diagnosis
Treatment protocols change often for a number of reasons, including:
- Disease progression: What worked in an earlier cancer stage may not be the most effective treatment approach down the line.
- Side effects: Every patient is unique in which treatment modalities their body tolerates. Some may need to switch their course of treatment to improve quality of life.
- New cancer drugs: As research develops, new treatment options become available. For example, the FDA granted 50 oncology drug approvals in 2025.
- New clinical trials: Many new pharmaceuticals are offered via clinical trials, which open new, hopeful treatment options.
Without ongoing treatment plan review, patients may suffer from side effects or miss out on promising new cancer drugs or life-changing clinical trials.
What “Ongoing Review” Actually Means for Lantern Members
So, what does “ongoing review” mean? It means providing access to continuous expert input at any stage of the treatment plan. As part of Lantern’s new partnership with AccessHope, a treating oncologist or Lantern member can request expert review of their treatment plan by an oncologist at an NCI-designated comprehensive cancer center.
“Cancer care is complex, and expertise matters at every phase of the journey. We engage treating providers directly to bring NCI-designated comprehensive cancer center expertise into community practices,” says Dr. Yousuf Zafar, Chief Medical Officer of AccessHope. “With Lantern, employers can be confident this level of expert support is reaching members consistently across their population and throughout the cancer journey.”
“Cancer care is complex, and expertise matters at every phase of the journey. We engage treating providers directly to bring NCI-designated comprehensive cancer center expertise into community practices.”
The Clinical + Financial Impact of Second Opinions
While not every patient needs to travel to an NCI-designated comprehensive cancer center for care, the AccessHope and Lantern partnership supports patients and community oncologists with NCI-level care closer to home.
“Shifting the site of care into the community when possible can significantly lower the cost of treatment,” says Dickon Waterfield, President of Lantern. “Our program transforms the member experience by helping the member and the physician evaluate their options for the best care at a lower cost.”
Ongoing expert review helps identify and correct care that may be unnecessary, ineffective or outdated. This not only improves patient outcomes but also eliminates wasteful spending on treatments that don’t align with evidence-based standards.
It also helps bridge the gap between the roughly 4% trial participation rate in community settings compared to over 20% participation rates at NCI-designated comprehensive cancer centers, improving care options and driving savings.
“Patients and oncologists are not aware of trial options. There are numerous barriers to getting patients on trial, both clinical and socioeconomic barriers,” Zafar says. “We can match patients using their clinical data to any trial in the country, but really focus geographically down to where the patient is. And we then can navigate that patient through those educational barriers to then help them get enrolled in the trial, if it’s considered appropriate by their treating oncologist.”
Expert Perspective Helps Community Oncologists
“For a community oncologist who has to treat every single type of cancer every single day, it’s basically impossible to keep up with all the evidence-based guidance,” Zafar says. “For first-line therapy, they’ll know what to do. And then beyond that, they’ll go back to their old patterns, not necessarily adapting to the new evidence that has better survival.”
NCI-designated comprehensive cancer centers, on the other hand, employ subspecialist oncologists who only treat one type of cancer.
“They only know that type of cancer, but they know everything about it,” Zafar adds. “So, it’s sort of narrowing down that knowledge base and reducing the variability and lack of adherence to guidelines in care.”
For example, Zafar recalls a recent second opinion performed through AccessHope.
“We performed a second opinion on a patient who was living in a rural county and had an advanced complex cancer,” Zafar says. “When our reviewer at an NCI-designated comprehensive cancer center reviewed these patient’s records, they realized the patient’s care was not aligned with the standard of care.”
After receiving the review, AccessHope shared it with the community oncologist, who embraced the advice.
“The doctor said, ‘This review came at the perfect time, because I didn’t know what to do next. I didn’t realize that this standard of care drug that you list in the review was available. I didn’t realize there was a clinical trial available for this patient as well, so I now have not just one, but two options for this patient,’” Zafar says.
AccessHope data shows the majority of time when doctors receive recommendations from an expert review, they make a change in the patient’s care.
“And that’s happening because they’re basically getting this free review from the breast cancer specialist at Dana-Farber. Why wouldn’t you make that change?” Zafar says. “We’re very well received from the community oncologists who receive our reports, and we’re seeing that downstream impact in patient care.”
In between clinical reviews, Lantern cancer solution members have ongoing access to an oncology nurse, who can provide personalized guidance on provider selection and symptom management, while also offering support to address social determinants of health. This builds trust with the member and improves adherence to evidence-based treatment.
What This Means for Benefits Leaders
With more working age people being diagnosed with cancer, employers are seeing costs rise, while benefits leaders field an increasing amount of questions about cancer care benefits. A program like Lantern’s cancer solution, with its AccessHope partnership, allows HR benefits leaders to confidently steer their employees to better care at a lower cost.
“We were inspired to add the cancer care program because we saw an increasing incidence of cancer in our population, just like probably every other employer out there,” says Dawn Beaudin, VP of Benefits for Hyatt Hotels.
Hyatt Hotels wanted a solution that would ensure employees facing a devastating diagnosis receive quality care, while helping bend the cost curve at the same time.
“Lantern’s program did just that,” Beaudin says. “It provided us with the nurse oncologists who were able to provide our colleagues with the care they needed, getting their questions answered, holding their hand through the diagnosis and the treatment and making them feel like their employer cared about their health and their wellbeing.
“On the financial side, through the partnership that Lantern has with AccessHope, we were able to get them access to NCI-level oncologist specialists who, working with the treating local oncologists, were able to ensure members were getting the right diagnosis, the right treatment, and hopefully in turn ensuring that we were managing our cost appropriately,” Beaudin adds.
On the financial side, through the partnership that Lantern has with AccessHope, we were able to get them access to NCI-level oncologist specialists who, working with the treating local oncologists, were able to ensure members were getting the right diagnosis, the right treatment, and hopefully in turn ensuring that we were managing our cost appropriately.”
Improving Cancer Care Outcomes for Employees and Lowering Costs
Receiving cancer care in the community is more convenient and cost-effective. Pairing this care with ongoing expert review ensures care remains aligned with the latest evidence at every stage, reducing unnecessary variation, avoiding low‑value care and improving outcomes while lowering costs.
Lower cancer care costs come from:
- Site of care shifts for both oncology appointments and infusions
- Better treatment adherence supported by dedicated oncology nurses, reducing ER visits and hospital stays
- Appropriate care, aided by subspecialist treatment plan reviews
- Increased clinical trial utilization, shifting drug costs to trial sponsors
“If you align care to the evidence, their costs are lower over time,” Zafar says. “Their cancer is not growing as much, they’re doing better on treatment, they’re not getting admitted to the hospital because their supportive care management is better. All of that leads to lower total cost of care.”
