Association of Community Cancer Centers names Innovator Award recipients
The Association of Community Cancer Centers announced recipients of its 11th annual Innovator Awards.
The awards honor forward-thinking cancer programs that identify cutting-edge solutions to challenges commonly faced by cancer care teams. The honorees implemented replicable strategies that help improve access to, quality of and value in cancer care delivery.
“The [association’s] Innovator Awards allow us to learn from our creative and inventive colleagues to ultimately improve patient care,” association president Krista Nelson, MSW, LCSW, OSW-C, FAOSW, said in a press release. “During these tumultuous and uncertain times, these awards shed light on the positive advancements that continue to drive cancer care forward. The fact that none of these programs would be possible without collaboration across teams, across disciplines, and, in some cases, into and across community organizations, is particularly striking.”
Each award recipient will make a presentation about their program during this year’s Association of Community Cancer Centers National Oncology Conference. The virtual meeting will be held Nov. 9-10.
The award recipients and their programs are:
- Cancer Care Associates of York for developing an advanced practice provider-physician model to increase patient education about palliative care and improve risk stratification to make individualized decisions about chemotherapy, radiation, immunotherapy or surgery;
- Cone Health Cancer Center for initiating transportation discussions with patients before noncompliance became an issue. No-show appointments decreased by 48% overall, and declined from as high as 15% to about 1.2% in two at-risk ZIP codes;
- Inova Schar Cancer Institute for piloting a remote monitoring program for clinically stable patients with COVID-19 and cancer. Patients reported vital measurements three times per day, and advanced practice providers and physicians worked together to determine appropriate next steps, using electronic health records to document provider communications and clinical recommendations;
- Karmanos Cancer Institute/Wayne State University for use of the DISCO app, which educates patients with cancer about potential treatment-related costs and generates tailored questions to prompt cost-related conversations with providers. The app significantly improved patients’ abilities to manage treatment costs, and 100% of video-recorded clinic visits included cost discussions;
- Presbyterian Healthcare Services for developing a cancer care and community paramedicine pilot program designed to identify symptoms that could be managed in a patient’s home, reducing ED utilization. A mobile integrated health team made 652 home visits to 169 patients, conducting wellness checks and providing clinical interventions such as labs and hydration;
- University of Colorado Cancer Center and UCHealth-Oncology Services for using a mobile virtual reality cart to offer 3D patient-specific MRI, CT and PET/CT imaging to enhance patient-provider interaction, increase patient education and reduce distress; and
- Vanderbilt University Medical Center and Vanderbilt Ingram Cancer Center for implementing a program through which ED providers used the EHR to prompt oncology nurse navigators and case managers to contact patients with incidental findings from CT scans.