1. Short title (a) Short title This Act may be cited as the Cancer Care Planning and Communications Act of 2018 . (b) Findings Congress makes the following findings: (1) Cancer care in the United States is often described as the best in the world because patients have access to many treatment options, including cutting-edge therapies that save lives and improve the quality of life. (2) Access to the best treatment options is not equal across all populations and in all communities. The 1999 Institute of Medicine report entitled The Unequal Burden of Cancer found that low-income people often lack access to adequate cancer care and that ethnic minorities have not benefitted fully from cancer treatment advances. (3) In addition, despite access to high-quality treatment options for many, individuals with cancer often do not have access to a cancer care system that incorporates shared decision-making and the coordination of all elements of care. (4) Cancer survivors often experience the under-diagnosis and under-treatment of the symptoms of cancer and side effects of cancer treatment, a problem that begins at the time of diagnosis and may become more severe with disease progression and at the end of life. The failure to treat the symptoms, side effects, and late effects of cancer and cancer treatment may have a serious adverse impact on the health, survival, well-being, and quality of life of cancer survivors. (5) Individuals with cancer often do not participate in a shared decision-making process that considers all treatment options and do not benefit from coordination of all elements of active treatment and palliative care. (6) Quality cancer care should incorporate access to psychosocial services and management of the symptoms of cancer and the symptoms of cancer treatment, including pain, nausea, vomiting, fatigue, and depression. (7) Quality cancer care should include a means for engaging cancer survivors in a shared decision-making process that produces a comprehensive care summary and a plan for follow-up care