Patient history of cancer in primary care - a closer look among cancer survivors with chronic conditions in federally qualified health centers

Sep 23, 2026

Uploaded by Hazel

Cancer prevalence among patients using primary care in federally qualified health centers (FQHCs) is poorly quantified, especially when cancer history coexists with common chronic conditions. The study examines how cancer history is recorded for adults aged 40+ with diabetes and/or hypertension who had at least one FQHC visit in 2019. Trained auditors audited electronic medical records using a standardized abstraction form. Results report 6.46% documented cancer history and frequent documentation within the problem list. Findings indicate higher prevalence than previously reported and support better access to history for comprehensive chronic care.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryHealthcare

FormatPDF

Pages5

Reading Time13 min

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Booker et al. BMC Primary Care (2025) 26:39 [https://doi.org/10.1186/s12875-025-02727-y](https://doi.org/10.1186/s12875-025-02727-y) BMC Primary Care RESEARCH Open Access Patient history of cancer in primary care: a closer look among cancer survivors with chronic conditions in federally qualified health centers Quiera Booker 1, Rebecca Eary2*, Viviana Gonzalez2, Maishara Muquith2, Pallavi Dev2, Simon J. Craddock Lee3 and Bijal A. Balasubramanian4 Abstract Purpose The prevalence of cancer among patients accessing primary care in federally qualified health centers (FQHCs) is poorly characterized. A patient’s history of cancer in addition to common chronic conditions makes providing comprehensive primary care more complex, especially for patients accessing care at FQHCs who often face additional social and economic barriers to care. Methods Trained auditors conducted a comprehensive electronic medical record audit using a standardized abstraction form to identify cancer history in patients aged ≥ 40 years with two common chronic conditions (diabetes and/or hypertension) and who had at least one visit to an FQHC between January 1 and December 31, 2019. Descriptive statistics were performed. Results Among 712 adult patients with diabetes and/or hypertension, 46 (6 .46%) had a documented history of cancer. For the majority of cancer patients (67 .4%), cancer information was documented in the“Problem List” section of their medical record. Conclusion Our study revealed a higher prevalence of cancer in FQHC primary care records than previously reported. Future research should examine whether readily accessible cancer history information in primary care records could enhance comprehensive care delivery for all chronic conditions, including cancer. Keywords Cancer survivorship, Primary care, Cancer history, Federally qualified health center *Correspondence: Rebecca Eary [rebecca.eary@utsouthwestern.edu](rebecca.eary@utsouthwestern.edu) 1Division of Cancer Epidemiology and Genetics, Integrative Tumor Epidemiology Branch, National Cancer Institute, Rockville, Maryland, USA 2School of Medicine, Department of Family and Community Medicine, UT Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, Texas, USA 3School of Medicine, Department of Population Health and University of Kansas Cancer Center, University of Kansas Medical Center, Kansas City, Kansas, USA 4School of Public Health, Department of Epidemiology, The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston, Houston, USA © The Author(s) 2025. Open Access This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License, which permits any non-commercial use, sharing, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if you modified the licensed material. You do not have permission under this licence to share adapted material derived from this article or parts of it. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article’s Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article’s Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this licence, visit [http://creati](http://creati)[vecommons.org/l](vecommons.org/l)icenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/. Booker et al. BMC Primary Care (2025) 26:39 Introduction Every day, primary care clinicians are likely to see a cancer survivor in their office given one in two men and one in three women in the United States are diagnosed with cancer during their lifetime [1]. Yet the prevalence of cancer for patients seen in primary care clinics is poorly characterized and underestimated becaus

FAQs

What is the study purpose regarding cancer in FQHC primary care records?

To characterize how common cancer history is among FQHC patients with diabetes and/or hypertension and to clarify the documentation context for cancer survivors in primary care.

How was cancer history identified in the study?

Trained auditors performed a standardized electronic medical record audit to identify documented cancer history for adults aged 40+ with diabetes and/or hypertension who visited an FQHC in 2019.

What proportion of patients had a documented history of cancer, and where was it typically recorded?

Among 712 adults with diabetes and/or hypertension, 46 (6.46%) had documented cancer history, and for 67.4% it was recorded in the medical record problem list section.

What does the conclusion suggest for future research or care delivery?

Future work should assess whether readily accessible cancer history information in primary care records can improve comprehensive care delivery across chronic conditions, including cancer.

Sep 23, 2026

Uploaded by Hazel