Motivators, Barriers, and Facilitators to Traveling to the Safest Hospitals in the United States for Complex Cancer Surgery

Key Points Question What information may motivate the US public to travel to safer hospitals for complex cancer surgery, what barriers to traveling do they face, and what solutions may facilitate appropriately changing hospitals? Findings In this nationally representative survey study, 92% of respondents would be motivated to travel to a specialty cancer hospital for superior safety or oncologic outcomes, but 74% also reported barriers to traveling, although most of the barriers could be overcome with proposed solutions. Specific socioeconomic subsets were less likely to travel. Meaning It appears that most of the US public could be motivated to travel to safer hospitals for complex cancer surgery, yet most would require some support to move. Further efforts to ensure that benefits from regionalization are equitable across sociodemographic strata are indicated.

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