Shelley Fuld Nasso Joins NCCS as Director of Public Policy
Shelley Fuld Nasso has joined the National Coalition for Cancer Survivorship (NCCS) as Senior Director of Policy, with responsibility for leading public policy activities, patient education, and other programs. Ms. Fuld Nasso previously served as Director of Public Policy and Director of Public and Medical Affairs at Susan G. Komen ...
Cancer Leadership Council Statement: Reform Medicare Payment for Patient-Focused Care
NCCS joined its colleagues in the Cancer Leadership Council in publishing a statement of principles to guide reform of Medicare payment for cancer care. Major news outlets have suggested that Medicare beneficiaries are not receiving their cancer care due to the 2% cuts in Medicare payments required under the sequestration ...
NCCS Senior Policy Advisor Responds to Opinionator “A Plan to Fix Cancer Care”
NCCS Senior Policy Advisor Ellen Stovall’s advice for immediate reform of cancer care was published in a letter to the editor of the New York Times on April 1, 2013. Letters from Ms. Stovall and four other writers commented on an opinion piece by Dr. Ezekiel J. Emanuel and others, ...
NY Times Opinionator: A Plan To Fix Cancer Care
In a recent New York Times Opinionator essay, Ezekiel J. Emanuel is joined by more than 20 prominent members of the oncology community in outlining five major changes to be made to the health care system to ensure sustainability of care. This year, more than 1.6 million Americans — 0.5 percent of ...
Free-floating DNA from Tumor Could Provide Early Warning
In an article in the USA Today of March 13, 2013, reporter Liz Szabo directs attention to a study published in the New England Journal of Medicine. Szabo says that the small study suggests that doctors can measure circulating tumor DNA in women with advanced breast cancer in order to ...
Widespread Flaws Found in Ovarian Cancer Treatment
Denise Grady reports in the New York Times regarding a study of the gaps in ovarian cancer care that was presented at the recent annual meeting of the Society of Gynecologic Oncology. The research study found that many women with ovarian cancer receive treatment that is not consistent with recommended ...
NCCS Resources Included in eHealth Initiative’s Health IT Cancer Resource Guide
The National Coalition for Cancer Survivorship is pleased to announce that the eHealth Initiative has included three of NCCS's patient resources in the recently launched Health IT Cancer Resource Guide. The eHealth Initiative is a non-profit organization whose mission is to drive improvement in the quality, safety, and efficiency of healthcare through ...
Protons for Prostate Cancer: the Dream Versus the Reality
In an editorial published in the January 2, 2013, issue of the Journal of the National Cancer Institute, Theodore Lawrence and Mary Feng discuss a recent study that compared proton radiotherapy and photon radiotherapy for treatment of prostate cancer in Medicare patients. Lawrence and Feng identify the shortcomings of the ...
Shared Decision Making to Improve Care and Reduce Costs
In a New England Journal of Medicine January 3, 2013 article, Emily Oshima Lee and Dr. Ezekiel J. Emanuel discuss the potential for shared decision making to improve the quality of care patients receive and potentially reduce costs. The authors suggest that a provision of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) ...
Cancer Patients Should Be Wary of Needless Tests and Treatments
When the diagnosis is cancer, many people understandably want to pull out all the stops to treat it. But some tests, treatments and procedures not only are unnecessary but also can be harmful. “Sometimes less really is more,” says Lowell E. Schnipper, chief of hematology-oncology at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical ...
