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Key Points:

• More than half of cancer patients in the U.S. receive treatment in community-based oncology settings.
• Community oncology helps patients access care closer to home while maintaining daily routines, family support and continuity with their care teams.
• Advances in precision medicine, diagnostics and therapies are increasing the complexity of cancer care delivery.
• The US Oncology Network, supported by McKesson, provides independent community practices with technology, research and operational support.
• AI, real-world oncology data and clinical trial matching tools are helping community practices integrate innovation into everyday cancer care.

Today, more than half of cancer patients in the United States receive treatment in community-based oncology settings. As cancer is increasingly managed as a chronic condition, these long-term care relationships have become more important than ever. Community practices are translating advances in research into real-world care, where most patients are diagnosed, treated and followed over time.

As part of an panel held following the Annual Meeting, Jason Hammonds, president of Oncology & Multispecialty at McKesson, practicing breast cancer specialist, executive vice president, Texas Oncology, and president, Community Oncology Alliance, and , radiation oncologist and medical director, Compass Oncology — both practices part of The US Oncology Network — discussed how community oncology is navigating increasing clinical complexity while continuing to deliver high-quality care.

Why Community Oncology Matters for Cancer Care Access and Continuity

For many people facing cancer, access to high-quality care does not begin at a large academic medical center. It begins close to home, in the communities where patients live, work and rely on family and support systems.

Receiving treatment in a community setting allows patients to remain connected to their lives throughout care. Appointments, laboratory work and follow-up visits can occur without extensive travel, helping patients maintain routines and stay engaged with their families and support networks.

For clinicians, community oncology enables long-term relationships that extend beyond a single course of treatment, spanning diagnosis, therapy selection, survivorship and evolving care needs.

"The goal of modern cancer therapy is for patients to live with their lives intact: To not let cancer take their life, and not let cancer therapy take their livelihood," explained Dr. Patt. "In community settings, patients can often get their therapy, continue to work, be at their dinner tables in their homes, pick up their kids from soccer practice, and sleep in their bed next to their spouse. They're able to keep more of themselves because care is convenient and close to home and their livelihood is preserved while they are supported by their community." 

What was once a binary question of cure or no cure is increasingly a model of long-term disease management. That shift makes proximity and continuity essential not only for access, but for quality of life. Community oncology is no longer simply a site of convenience; it is where advanced therapies, precision medicine and clinical research increasingly reach patients.

How Advances in Oncology and Precision Medicine Are Changing Cancer Care Delivery

The pace of change in oncology continues to accelerate. New biomarker-driven therapies, advanced diagnostics and emerging treatment approaches are expanding options for patients, while also increasing the complexity of delivering care.

"One of the most gratifying parts of being a radiation oncologist in the community is that patients no longer have to choose between receiving highly specialized cancer care and staying close to home," said Dr. Schuler. "We're now able to deliver the most advanced therapies in the same clinics where patients are receiving their infusions and where they're seeing their surgical subspecialists."

He pointed to radiosurgery as an example, once limited to large academic centers and requiring an all-day procedure. Today, many community practices deliver the same treatment in under an hour with less invasive approaches. Innovations like metastasis-directed therapy are also helping patients stay on effective treatments longer by targeting isolated areas of progression.

Practices must balance this rapid adoption with operational demands, including evolving reimbursement models, regulatory requirements, workforce pressures and data integration challenges. The question is no longer whether innovation exists, but whether systems can support its consistent delivery.

How The US Oncology Network and McKesson Support Independent Community Oncology Practices

Meeting that challenge requires more than innovation alone; it requires infrastructure, shared capabilities and coordinated support that enable practices to deliver increasingly complex care in community settings. The US Oncology Network, an organization of independent, community-based providers supported by McKesson, offers a physician-led model that combines access to technology, research, and operational capabilities with local decision-making and clinical autonomy.

"If we get that balance right, community oncology doesn't just keep up with innovation," said Hammonds. "It becomes the primary way that we can deliver that innovation."

Technology is central to that effort. Through Ontada, a McKesson business dedicated to real-world oncology data, physicians access evidence-based guidance and biomarker insights directly within their workflow via iKnowMed ® electronic health record (EHR). Genospace, a McKesson-supported AI data-driven platform, helps match eligible patients with clinical trial options, ensuring access to advanced therapies where patients are already receiving care.

That infrastructure is expanding the reach of clinical research. Dr. Patt noted that her practice maintains 70 to 80 open clinical trials at any given time. Through a collaboration with Sarah Cannon Research Institute (SCRI), one of the world’s leading oncology research organizations conducting community-based clinical trials, community practices are bringing specialized therapies, including radiopharmaceutical trials, directly to patients. Dr. Schuler observed that patients from academic systems are now being directed to community practices for trial access.

How Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Technology Are Improving Cancer Care in Community Oncology

As advances continue, the next phase of progress depends on how effectively innovation can be integrated into routine care. "AI is truly becoming a key enabler of independence," said Hammonds. "It's allowing community practices to deliver highly advanced, precision care while physician-led practices can remain rooted in their community. AI is going to be a force multiplier, not only to solve some of the challenges we see today, but to also help continue this acceleration of the science."

That shift is already visible in daily workflows. Ambient AI documentation tools allow physicians to focus on conversations with patients while clinical notes are captured automatically, reducing administrative burden and improving the care experience.

Ensuring community practices can integrate these tools seamlessly will be critical to maintaining access and consistency in care delivery.

What Is Needed to Sustain Access to High-Quality Cancer Care in Community Oncology

Cancer care works best when patients have choices, physicians have autonomy and innovation is supported by infrastructure that reduces complexity. The next decade will require continued investment in technology, research and operational support to ensure the pace of innovation reaches patients in their communities, not only in academic centers.

The future of cancer care depends not only on scientific discovery, but on the ability to deliver those advances consistently, in everyday practice — and community oncology plays a central role in making that possible.

View the on-demand panel discussion .