Quality Cancer Care

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Our mission is to advocate for quality cancer care for all people touched by cancer, but what exactly is “quality cancer care,” and why is it essential for patients and the health care system? The National Academy of Medicine (formerly Institute of Medicine) and others have worked to define quality cancer care. Cancer Nation has represented patient perspectives in these efforts and played a leadership role in building the evidence base for quality cancer care.

Cancer Nation believes that cancer patients should have access to:

Care that adheres to evidence-based guidelines;
Comprehensive cancer care that assures treatment of the symptoms and side effects of cancer and cancer treatment;
Coordinated care with strong communication among all providers and the patient;
A written care plan detailing all elements of cancer care;
Care in a clinical trial, if it represents a potential treatment option;
Shared decision-making, including honest discussion about prognosis, the intent of therapy and the patient’s values and preferences regarding care;
Support for psychosocial needs;
Palliative care throughout the course of treatment, from diagnosis through end of life;
End-of-life care, including but not limited to hospice care;
Post-treatment survivorship care, including a survivorship care plan with a treatment summary and personalized recommendations for monitoring and follow-up care.
Robust health information systems that support and improve all other aspects of quality cancer care.

Ensuring quality cancer care is complex, and there are many areas for improvement and policy action. An important gap is in treatment decision-making and coordination of the multiple facets of cancer care. To address this gap, Cancer Nation advocates to ensure that every cancer patient has access to cancer care planning and coordination. These services provide cancer patients information to make informed decisions about treatments, encourage collaboration among the multi-disciplinary cancer care providers, and facilitate transitions from active treatment to survivorship.

NCCS Joins AARP In Opposing Medical Expense Deduction Repeal

November 8, 2017

NCCS joined a letter, spearheaded by AARP and sent to all members of the House of Representatives, opposing the proposed elimination…

What Caught Our Eye: ACA Open Enrollment Info, Tax Bill Eliminates Medical Expense Deduction, A Young Med Student’s Lymphoma Story

November 3, 2017

What Caught Our Eye (WCOE) is our week-in-review blog series, where we recap the cancer policy articles, studies, and stories that caught our attention. Affordable Care Act – It’s Open Enrollment Season! Do You Know Your Health Insurance? – It’s officially “open enrollment season” and that means millions of Americans are about to dive into an alphabet soup of insurance choices. To help with this problem, Merck collaborated with health literacy [...]

What Caught Our Eye: ACA Premiums; Excessive Cancer Care; Saving Lives With Policy; Horrifying Hospice Care; Cancer Drug Efficacy; and More

October 27, 2017

What Caught Our Eye is our week-in-review blog series, where we recap the cancer policy articles, studies, and stories that caught our attention. “When Silver Costs More Than Gold: How Trump’s Actions Have Scrambled Insurance Prices” Via New York Times — The rates for next year’s Obamacare plans are out, and they show how President Trump’s actions have scrambled the insurance marketplace. Usually, plans known as gold have higher monthly [...]

ACA Update | October 27, 2017 – CBO: Bipartisan Alexander-Murray Bill Would Cut Deficit by $3.8 Billion

October 27, 2017

This week proved to be another busy week in health care. NCCS led a team with representatives from other cancer patient advocacy groups to attend meetings with Senators to encourage them to support the Alexander-Murray bipartisan stabilization bill. The Alexander-Murray bill would fund cost-sharing reduction (CSR) payments through 2019 and restore $106 million of the funding for enrollment outreach over the same time period. In exchange for [...]

National Coalition for Cancer Survivorship

NCCS Announces Dr. Julia Rowland, Former Director of Office of Cancer Survivorship at NCI, as Newest Board Member

October 25, 2017

NCCS announced that Julia Rowland, PhD, former Director of the National Cancer Institute’s (NCI) Office of Cancer Survivorship (OCS), has joined the Board of Directors. Dr. Rowland retired from the NCI in September after 18 years. Former NCCS CEO Ellen Stovall was integral to the creation of the Office of Cancer Survivorship and helped recruit Dr. Rowland as its leader. Dr. Rowland has a long history of collaboration with NCCS, including [...]

NCCS Letter to HHS Highlights “Deep Reservations” Concerning Massachusetts 1115 Waiver

October 23, 2017

The National Coalition for Cancer Survivorship (NCCS) sent a letter to Eric Hargan, Acting Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), to express “deep reservations” regarding the proposal by the Commonwealth of Massachusetts to amend its Section 1115 waiver. In the letter, NCCS states: Many cancer patients have been assured access to care through MassHealth, the state’s Medicaid program. We are concerned [...]

ACA Update | October 23, 2017 – Bipartisan ACA Stabilization Bill an Important Step Forward

October 23, 2017

For months, Senators Lamar Alexander (R-TN) and Patty Murray (D-WA) have been working on a market stabilization bill that would fund the cost-sharing reduction (CSR) payments for the Affordable Care Act (ACA) and include other provisions to keep insurers in the markets. The stabilization bill was tabled when the Graham-Cassidy legislation was being considered, but now that efforts to repeal the ACA have stalled, Senators Alexander [...]

WCOE: Bipartisan Health Care Deal Details; Fertility Banks Underused by Young Male Survivors; Cancer Stress; High Drug Pricing; and More

October 20, 2017

What Caught Our Eye is our week-in-review blog series, where we recap the cancer policy articles, studies, and stories that caught our attention. “The Senate’s new Obamacare stabilization deal, explained” – By Dylan Scott, Vox.com — We have an Obamacare stabilization deal. Republican Sen. Lamar Alexander, who had been working with Democratic Sen. Patty Murray for the past few months, announced it this afternoon. This would be [...]

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