OBJECTIVES : On 1/30/20, the World Health Organization declared the COVID-19 pandemic a global emergency. In March 2020, the iKnowMed electronic health records system implemented a screening tool to monitor and report the COVID-19 impact within these at-risk community oncology practices, summarized here.

METHODS : The study included patients with at least two office visits, on active chemotherapy within the period 30 days prior to 03/01/2020 through 05/19/2021, and within 20 US Oncology Network practices. Screening questions included COVID-19–related symptoms, travel, exposure, and testing results.

RESULTS : A total of 132,457 unique patients satisfied inclusion criteria. Of these, 39% (n=51,620) had at least one screening record, and 564,491 unique screening responses were recorded during the study. A median of 6 (25^th- 75^th percentiles: 2, 14) screening records per patient was reported. The study population was 67% (n=34,548) female and 58% aged 60-79 years (n=30,042). Approximately 24% (n=12,309) reported having been tested for COVID-19, while 4% (n=499) reported a positive result. Among the COVID-positive patients, 23% (n=114) reported recent symptoms, 9% (n=45) contact with a COVID-positive person, and 1.6% (n=8) travel. Among screened patients (n=51,620), 87% (n=45,164) did not report any symptoms, 77% (n=39,761) did not report any travel outside of their community, and 90 % (n=46,406) did not report exposure to anyone positive for COVID-19.

CONCLUSIONS : The inclusion of a COVID-19 screening tool within a community oncology EHR provides insights into the effects of the pandemic within a potentially immunocompromised patient population. Descriptive analysis reveals that responses relative to symptoms, travel, and exposure along with percent-positive rates among cancer patients may be lower than the general population. Opportunities to stratify data by stage of disease, metastatic indication and other clinical variables offer future directions for analysis.