Do you have coverage for your patients for when you are vacationing or for when you get sick?

"Oncology is a specialty that has very well organized continuing educational platforms, such as tumor boards or multispecialty treatment teams for our cancer patients. This means getting to know most of the Oncologists in the area, and so it won't be a problem for me to have coverage arrangements when needed."

Continuity of care is important enough to be included in a hospital's rules and regulations. Your answer should be yes, as if it were assumed. Luckily, most Oncologists easily can arrange for such coverage from other Oncologists due to an absence of the usual competitive drives seen in other specialties. This partly is due to the scarcity of Oncologists compared to the general population and the rising of life expectancy.

"If I am my patient's doctor, it means I am responsible for his or her care, even I were to arrange for coverage from someone else."