Introduction: The Australian PanCancer Initiative, a partnership between the Movember consortium, Cancer Australia and the Department of Health, Disability and Ageing, created a national Core Outcome Set (COS) to support consistent collection of patient-reported outcome measures (PROMS) and experience measures (PREMS). Following mapping of existing PROMs/PREMs against the COS, this study explored stakeholder perspectives to inform development of a practical COS Coverage Tool for cancer services to consider when selecting PROMs/PREMs for implementation.
Methods: Semi-structured interviews with stakeholders representing clinical care, cancer registries, research and health system/policy organisations explored preferred tool format, functionality, decision-support requirements, implementation considerations and contextual factors influencing uptake. Participants were presented with a prototype tool to facilitate discussion. Data were analysed using inductive content analysis.
Results: Interviews (n=18) with participants representing services with established PROM/PREM programs, registry-based collections, and organisations with limited implementation identified four key concepts for tool design. 1) Participants prioritised usability and functionality over delivery platform; 2) Stakeholders supported functionality that mapped existing PROMs/PREMs against the COS to identify coverage gaps; 3) Participants emphasised the importance of transparent, evidence-based recommendations explaining why instruments were suggested and the trade-offs involved, and 4) Stakeholders highlighted that recommendations should account for implementation context, including service purpose, infrastructure, and patient population.
Conclusions: Stakeholders showed strong support for a national COS Coverage Tool that functions as a transparent, evidence-informed decision support resource. The tool can help organisations evaluate existing or proposed PROM/PREM coverage of the PanCancer COS, supporting more consistent and meaningful measurement of patient-reported outcomes across cancer care. Findings demonstrated successful uptake depends on balancing methodological rigour with practical usability and providing context-sensitive guidance that supports local decision-making. These findings shaped the development of the PanCancer COS Coverage Tool and emphasise the value of stakeholder engagement in developing national implementation resources.