The Transition-of-Care Plan, Explained (For Cancer Survivors)
What a survivorship transition-of-care plan actually contains, why the 18-and-beyond cliff makes it critical, and how to hand one to your next physician.
A transition-of-care plan is the one-page document that translates years of cancer treatment into the language a future physician can act on. If you finished treatment more than a year ago, this is probably the single most valuable document you can carry.
What actually belongs in a transition-of-care plan
At minimum: your diagnosis and stage, the drugs and radiation you received (with cumulative doses when they matter — anthracyclines, chest radiation, alkylators), the late effects those exposures put you at risk for, and the surveillance schedule that follows.
The COG Long-Term Follow-Up Guidelines, NCCN Survivorship, and ASCO survivorship statements all agree on the shape. Life Spark builds the document from your own tool entries so the surveillance section is specific to you — not a generic pamphlet.
Why the 18-and-beyond cliff makes this urgent
Roughly 500,000 childhood cancer survivors in the U.S. are aging out of pediatric oncology and into adult primary care, where most physicians have never treated a survivor of pediatric cancer. Without a transition plan, cardio-oncology surveillance, endocrine follow-up, fertility counseling, and second-cancer screening quietly fall off the schedule.
The same gap exists for adult survivors as they leave five-year oncology follow-up. A plan you carry closes it.
How to hand one off without giving up ownership
You generate the plan yourself, download it as a PDF or FHIR R4 bundle, and give it to your next clinician. Life Spark does not transmit anything on your behalf. The record stays yours; you decide what to share and when.