Patient-reported outcome completion rates among cancer patients enrolled in an employer-sponsored care navigation program.

Abstract

420 Background: Electronic patient reported outcomes (ePRO) collection in oncology faces well-documented engagement barriers. Studies report PROMIS completion rates as low as 24–37% in routine clinical settings, and text message-based cancer screening surveys achieve completion in fewer than half of eligible patients. These gaps limit the utility of PRO data for monitoring symptom burden in cancer populations. These gaps also have direct clinical consequences. Studies show that electronic symptom monitoring reduces emergency visits and improves quality of life in patients with metastatic cancer and in one trial, was associated with a 5-month overall survival benefit. This suggests that PRO tools function as clinical interventions, not merely measurement instruments. One novel model aimed at delivering these assessments are care navigation programs embedded within employer benefits. The goal of these programs is often to overcome known barriers through trusted navigator relationships and benefit-integrated patient engagement. Methods: Cancer patients (all tumor types) enrolled in an employer-sponsored care navigation benefit were administered the PROMIS-10 Global Health questionnaire via SMS at three timepoints: enrollment (baseline), 45 days, and 90 days. This assessment tool was used given its ability to capture global physical and mental health across 5 domains. It is an evidence-based, vetted and low lift tool for capturing meaningful quality-of-life data in cancer patients. Completion rate was defined as the proportion of eligible patients returning a completed questionnaire at each timepoint. Results: As of April 2026, 288 cancer patients were enrolled in the program, with 195 initiating PROMIS-10 assessments, generating 995 total measures. SMS-based PROMIS-10 completion rates were 75% at enrollment (146/195), 67% at 45 days (90/134), and 77% at 90 days (50/65). The denominator decrease is secondary to the various patients going through the program and the smaller subset that had reached the 90 day mark at the time the data was pulled. This was sustained across all three timepoints without significant attrition. Conclusions: An employer-sponsored care navigation model achieved SMS-based PROMIS-10 completion rates of 67–77% sustained across three longitudinal timepoints. This substantially exceeded published benchmarks for both routine PROMIS implementation (24–37%) and text-based PRO collection in oncology (<50%). These findings suggest that embedding PRO collection within a trusted navigator relationship and an existing employer benefit structure may overcome traditional barriers to ePRO engagement. The sustained rate across follow-up timepoints is particularly noteworthy. Data collection is ongoing with follow-up presentations focusing on outcomes, results of the surveys and how they were used to improve care.