What is Comprehensive Cancer Care?
Comprehensive cancer care is coordinated, integrated care that involves providers and patients working together to address the particular and varied issues affecting millions of cancer survivors.
The Comprehensive Cancer Care Improvement Act, H.R. 1078 and S. 2790
The Comprehensive Cancer Care Improvement Act (CCCIA), H.R. 1078 and S. 2790, bears that name because it aims to ensure cancer patients access to care that combines primary therapy with symptom management. The Act itself is also comprehensive because it offers an aggressive and thorough set of recommendations for reform of the system of cancer care.
Over the past twenty-five years, the number of cancer survivors has increased from three million to eleven million. The growth in this population is due largely to progress in the treatment of cancer. However, this system of advanced treatment has often failed to provide survivors with care that addresses the side effects of both cancer and its treatment, which have a significant effect on their quality of life. Cancer survivors may not receive appropriate management of pain, nausea, vomiting, fatigue, and depression, and may not have access to psychosocial services. Many cancer patients do not receive a treatment plan at the beginning of therapy, or a summary of their care and plan for monitoring and follow-up care at the end of treatment.
The Comprehensive Cancer Care Improvement Act (CCCIA) includes a number of proposals that would advance a system of integrated cancer care and improved communication between patients and their health care teams regarding treatment options and follow-up care. By reforming Medicare reimbursement, enhancing training of professionals who treat cancer survivors, and testing and expanding model systems of integrated care, the Act would advance a system of quality, comprehensive cancer care.
Read the full text of the CCCIA.
Speak up and let your voice be heard in Congress regarding this bill.
Evidence of the need for comprehensive cancer care
The reforms proposed in the Act are consistent with key recommendations of the 2005 Institute of Medicine report, From Cancer Patient to Cancer Survivor: Lost in Transition. Key among these recommendations are proposals that: 1) cancer survivors completing care be provided a treatment summary and follow-up plan and 2) programs be developed to encourage interdisciplinary systems for providing integrated cancer care.
Provisions of the Act
If passed, the CCCIA would:
- Establish Medicare payment for the development of a cancer care plan and the communication of that plan to the individual patient;
- Establish Medicare payment for the development of a treatment summary that would also outline follow-up care for survivors;
- Authorize a Medicare demonstration project to evaluate the cost and effectiveness of delivering comprehensive cancer care without limits that apply to hospice benefits; and
- Establish grants programs, administered by HHS, to enhance professional training related to the provision of comprehensive cancer care and to expand and evaluate model programs for the delivery of comprehensive cancer care.
The CCCIA has nearly 100 co-sponsors in the House of Representatives and is supported by 38 National Cancer Institute designated comprehensive cancer centers across the country, 30 cancer advocacy organizations in the Cancer Leadership Council, and the American Society of Clinical Oncology, the world’s leading professional organization representing physicians of all oncology subspecialties who care for people with cancer.
You can help ensure that cancer survivors receive the quality care they deserve by asking your congressional Representative to support H.R. 1078, the Comprehensive Cancer Care Improvement Act. It takes less than a minute to visit NCCS's Cancer Advocacy Now!TM network where you can send a letter of support to the Representative for your congressional district.
Read the full text of the CCCIA.
