US lawmakers introduce bill to improve cancer survivorship care
Click Here to Manage Email Alerts
A bipartisan group of federal lawmakers introduced a bill Wednesday that aims to address gaps in cancer survivorship care.
The Comprehensive Cancer Survivorship Care Act (CCSA) would develop care standards, grants and other resources for cancer survivors and their families, according to a press release from the office of U.S. Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-Florida), a cancer survivor and sponsor of the bill.
“From the point of diagnosis, through active treatment and transitions to primary care, until the end of life, this legislation sets the standards of care that all survivors need and deserve,” she said in the press release. “The CCSA confronts care planning, transition, navigation, workforce, education and awareness, and empowers survivors with the best possible resources and care to overcome this terrible disease.”
According to the press release, the bill would seek to:
- provide coverage to ease the transition from oncology to primary care, helping survivors to develop personalized treatment care plans;
- standardize care planning and transition processes, with consolidation of treatments to guide monitoring and follow-up care;
- evaluate the current reimbursement landscape to create an alternative payment model for a coordinated approach to survivorship care;
- establish comprehensive survivorship navigation services focused on the continuum of care, including follow-up and health disparities and social determinants;
- create grants to promote use of navigation and risk stratification, transition to primary care, use of care plans and potentially at-home care, and better use of information technology for data on the patient experience;
- establish workforce assistance grants for survivors, their families and caregivers; and
- create educational resources for survivors and health professionals.
Other sections of the bill target technology implementation, fertility preservation and childhood and adolescent cancer, according to the press release.
Several cancer organizations, including American Association for Cancer Research, expressed support for the bill.
“Breakthroughs in cancer treatment have resulted in more than 18 million Americans living today as cancer survivors, and this act will provide vital resources for many of them, including supporting personalized survivorship care plans for follow-up care, navigation services, and evidence-based survivorship resources,” AACR President Lisa M. Coussens, PhD, FAACR, said in a press release from the association.
U.S. Reps. Brian Fitzpatrick (R-Pennsylvania) and Mark DeSaulnier (D-California) and Sens. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minnesota) and Ben Cardin (D-Maryland) joined Wasserman Schultz in introducing the bill.
References:
- AACR statement on the Comprehensive Cancer Survivorship Act (press release). Available at: www.aacr.org/about-the-aacr/newsroom/media-advisories/aacr-statement-on-the-comprehensive-cancer-survivorship-act/. Published Dec. 14, 2022. Accessed Dec. 14, 2022.
- Wasserman Schultz, Klobuchar, Cardin, Fitzpatrick, and DeSaulnier lead cancer survivorship bill (press release). Available at: wassermanschultz.house.gov/news/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=2906. Published Dec. 14, 2022. Accessed Dec. 14, 2022.
Collapse
Wasserman Schultz, Klobuchar, Cardin, Fitzpatrick, and DeSaulnier lead cancer survivorship bill (press release). Available at: wassermanschultz.house.gov/news/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=2906. Published Dec. 14, 2022. Accessed Dec. 14, 2022.
Read more about
Click Here to Manage Email Alerts