Guest Post: Palliative Care in Oncology—We’ve Come a Long Way, Baby …But Let’s Not Rest on Our Laurels
“The good physician treats the disease; the great physician treats the patient who has the disease.” -William Osler Since the creation of the National Cancer Act in 1971, the medical establishment—and indeed our entire society—has taken up the powerful metaphor of a “war on cancer” as the approach to attacking and ...
Guest Post by Dr. Don Dizon: When Even the Best Advice Isn’t Good Enough
Every so often I see a patient who views cancer as a constant threat to be handled — it becomes so significant that it is as if she can never let her guard down. I always worry about this, partly because that singular focus on fighting cancer can sometimes detract ...
Guest Blog: Fighting Cancer Means Fighting for Cancer Data
The second most common cause of death, cancer touches all of us. According to the Institute of Medicine, the numbers are only projected to increase and care costs are skyrocketing.Yet despite its toll, it’s virtually impossible to answer the question, “Who provides high quality cancer care?” This hinders patients, providers, ...
An Updated Survivorship Care Planning Template and Identifying Barriers to Implementation
Recently, the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) released an updated cancer survivorship care planning (SCP) template—news that was captured by several medical online news outlets including Healio, Medscape, and Cancer.net. Survivorship care planning is a process of cancer care delivery that NCCS has advocated for over the last 20 ...
Ellen Stovall Presents the Patient Perspective on Overtreatment at the ASCO Quality Care Symposium in Boston
On October 17th, NCCS Senior Health Policy Advisor Ellen Stovall will be presenting the patient perspective on overtreatment at the ASCO Quality Care Symposium in Boston. Ellen will be discussing the Choosing Wisely® campaign, an initiative of the ABIM Foundation intended to help physicians and patients engage in conversations to ...
WCOE: Reactions to ASCO’s Annual Meeting
What Caught Our Eye (WCOE) Each week, we take a closer look at the cancer policy articles, studies, and stories that caught our attention. I am happy to be back in the office, after spending five days in Chicago at the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) Annual Meeting. It was ...
New York Times Article Sheds Light on How the Cost of Treatment May Influence Doctors
Andrew Pollack of The New York Times wrote an interesting article for the Business Section of the paper, shedding light on how the cost of treatment may influence doctors. Quotes from Dr. Lowell Schnipper from the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) are featured, as are those from leaders at the ...
NCCS Responds to Dr. Don Dizon’s “The Awakening of the e-Patient” Commentary
In his ASCO Connection commentary, " The Awakening of the e-Patient: Are We Prepared to Engage?" Dr. Don Dizon confirms from the provider perspective what we at NCCS know to be true: patients want to be engaged in decision-making about their care, especially for a serious diagnosis like cancer. Dr ...
The American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO)’s Plans for Improving Cancer Survivorship Care
In a statement published in the Journal of Clinical Oncology on January 7, 2013, the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) detailed its recommendations for achieving high-quality cancer survivorship care. Notably, ASCO stressed the need for policy and advocacy on issues that impact cancer survivors, and it endorsed the Comprehensive Cancer Care ...
ASCO Announces CancerLinQ, an Initiative to Transform Cancer Care
ASCO is embarking on CancerLinQ, a multi-phase initiative that promises to change the way cancer is understood and treated. This "rapid learning system" will harness technological advances to connect oncology practices, measure quality and performance, and provide physicians with decision support in real time. Cancer science and information technology are ...
