Care-Team Ownership, Communication Gaps, and the Role of Telemedicine

This segment explores who owns each part of the transition and how teams keep patients safe once care moves closer to home. Faculty describe transplant physicians initiating the plan, pharmacists ensuring correct orders across settings, and nurse triage supporting follow-up, while the treating team retains responsibility even after patients move to local or home infusion. Communication gaps are discussed frankly, particularly delays in receiving labs drawn outside the center, one reason faculty keep patients close through the early weeks. Telemedicine emerges as a valuable but imperfect tool: faculty use virtual visits to maintain oversight and manage steroid tapers between in-person assessments, while acknowledging it cannot replace the physical exam chronic GVHD requires. Practical workarounds are shared, including patient-submitted photographs for skin assessment. Faculty also note real-world limits, from clinician preference for in-person contact to rural connectivity challenges that turn many intended video visits into telephone encounters.