Cancer Survivors Support Landrieu Legislation

(Washington, D.C.) — The promise of better care for people with cancer got a boost today from U.S. Sen. Mary Landrieu (D-LA) who introduced legislation that would prevent the unnecessary suffering of millions of cancer survivors and their families. 

With the population of American cancer survivors approaching 12 million, increasing numbers of people need vital tools to help them manage their cancer care during active treatment as well as in the period of survivorship that follows.  Landrieu's bill, S. 2790, The Comprehensive Cancer Care Improvement Act (CCCIA), would significantly improve the coordination and delivery of cancer treatment, symptom management, and follow-up care, while also enhancing communication between cancer survivors and their physicians. Among other things, the proposal would provide Medicare reimbursement for the development and delivery of cancer care plans and treatment summaries.

Although follow-up care plans have been recommended in several forums over more than a decade, they gained notable support when the Institute of Medicine (IOM) released its groundbreaking report in late 2005, From Cancer Patient to Cancer Survivor: Lost in Transition.  The report outlines wide gaps in the current system of care for cancer survivors that leave many unnecessarily suffering from permanent and disabling symptoms such as psychological distress, sexual dysfunction, infertility, and impaired organ function.  It states that all "patients completing primary treatment should be provided with a comprehensive care summary and follow-up plan that is clearly and effectively explained."

"As the IOM has concluded repeatedly, there is no real system of coordinated cancer care in this country," said NCCS president and CEO Ellen Stovall. "We appreciate Sen. Landrieu leading this effort to improve the lives of millions of survivors and their families, and we look forward to her Senate colleagues joining the effort."

An IOM workshop hosted by NCCS in partnership with the Lance Armstrong Foundation and the National Cancer Institute in 2006 identified reimbursement as one of the primary barriers to implementing survivorship care planning.  The CCCIA would eliminate that obstacle and likely encourage doctors to make the delivery of survivorship care plans routine practice in oncology.

"The United States Congress has provided its enthusiastic support to the National Institutes of Health for research to improve the treatment of cancer," Sen. Landrieu remarked.  "By introducing the Comprehensive Cancer Care Improvement Act, I call on my colleagues to join me in a parallel effort to improve the quality of care for Medicare beneficiaries diagnosed with cancer.  It is in our power to improve the quality of cancer care for Medicare beneficiaries.  And by improving Medicare, we set a standard of care for all Americans diagnosed with cancer."

Another way the legislation aims to improve the quality of cancer care in the United States is by enhancing the training of professionals who treat cancer survivors, and testing and expanding model systems of comprehensive cancer care.

The CCCIA has a companion bill in the House of Representatives (H.R. 1078), where it is sponsored by Reps. Lois Capps (D-CA) and Tom Davis (R-VA) and had 98 co-sponsors before the Spring recess.  It is supported by more than 30 of the nation’s leading cancer advocacy groups, 38 National Cancer Institute-designated comprehensive cancer centers across the country 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.