I am honored to assume the role of Chair for the ACS Commission on Cancer (CoC), and I am looking forward to a productive 2-year term.
During my tenure, I’d like to achieve three overarching goals:
- Increase the reach of the CoC to cover more cancer patients across the country
- Highlight the value of CoC accreditation
- Increase engagement among CoC members
While approximately 75% of newly diagnosed cancer patients in the US receive care from a CoC-accredited hospital, there are multiple ways in which we can increase those numbers and provide guideline-concordant care to more people across the country.
One strategy is to increase access to care for programs that are already CoC accredited. To achieve this, we have a multipronged approach. In partnership with the ACS Cancer Research Program, a survey of social determinants of health has identified how our programs screen for barriers to care.
To overcome these barriers, we offered programs the opportunity to participate in Breaking Barriers, a national quality improvement (QI) project that helps identify local, modifiable barriers to cancer care. The Breaking Barriers Toolkit is provided to these programs in an effort to help them develop strategies that increase patient compliance with cancer treatment.
The data show that this approach works, and the CoC is working to increase the scalability and sustainability of these interventions.
Another way to increase access to care is to create pathways for programs that are not yet CoC accredited. For example, the CoC is creating accreditation guidelines for rural programs since they have unique compositions and needs, which may not fit into the standard accreditation model.
Likewise, pediatric accreditation has been revamped to better tailor requirements for programs that treat patients under 18 years of age, as this cohort has different criteria for staging and treatment.
With these projects, we can increase the CoC coverage of patients with newly diagnosed cancer and improve the quality of cancer care across the US. In fact, showing the relationship between CoC standards and improved oncologic outcomes is one of the ways we can demonstrate the value of CoC accreditation.
Value of CoC Accreditation
Recent studies reported improved local regional recurrence rates and cancer-specific mortality for patients with colon cancer and in breast cancer populations with high social vulnerability indices when treated at CoC-accredited facilities.1,2
My goal is to continue research investigations demonstrating the improved outcomes for individual CoC standards and CoC accreditation in general. For example, recent Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results publications show a decrease in number of patients undergoing cancer screening compared to pre-pandemic levels, but these data are inclusive of both CoC- and non-CoC-accredited facilities.3
Since the CoC had a national return to screening QI project in 2021, along with the requirement for an annual screening event as part of accreditation, it is hypothesized that CoC Programs will have higher numbers of patients undergoing cancer screening, especially at programs that participated in the national QI project. The association with the cancer stage at diagnosis also will be investigated, which migrated during the pandemic.
Another way to demonstrate the value of CoC accreditation is by providing educational opportunities and mentorship for our programs.
The CoC has been leading multiple national QI projects, seminars, and courses to teach our programs how to effect positive change at their institutions. By walking them through the steps of how to create a problem statement, set goals, and create a framework to implement, study, and modify, the CoC has been assisting programs to be able to help themselves.
As one of my first projects as Chair, I am co-editing a special issue for the journal Surgery which is dedicated to some of these amazing QI projects performed at CoC Programs. Over the next 2 years, I will continue to not only promote ways to teach and mentor our programs, but also to publicize their achievements.
Finding ways for CoC Programs to publish their work also promotes engagement. I speak for the CoC Member Council—the governing body of the CoC—and ACS staff when I say we are grateful for the time, effort, and commitment our members and programs put into the CoC.
When first getting involved, the CoC Member Council can feel vast and nebulous, and members have approached me to ask how they can participate in council activities, and this is one of the challenges I want to undertake during my time as Chair.
Groups that actively engage their members in the exchange of ideas become more fruitful. There are so many smart, creative members of the CoC, who all bring unique perspectives and backgrounds. I hope to provide a platform for people to find their niche within the CoC.
As a first step to achieve this goal, at our CoC Member Council meeting during the 2025 ACS Cancer Conference in Phoenix, Arizona, time was dedicated to interactive brainstorming sessions. We broke into small groups that were facilitated by a senior member of the CoC or Cancer Programs and solicited ideas and feedback on how to increase the brand and value of the CoC. The groups also discussed how the CoC can effectively use patient-reported outcomes data.
These discussions generated ideas and showed examples of how these issues can be addressed in a myriad of ways that had not been previously considered. There are CoC members who had not been as active in projects but are now involved in carrying some of these ideas to fruition. By providing this opportunity for active engagement, it created more opportunities for our members to find meaning in being part of the CoC.
As I look forward to my tenure as CoC Chair, it is with gratitude that I have this opportunity to make a positive impact on our membership, accredited programs, and of course, our cancer patients.
If you want to know more about the CoC or get involved, reach out to [email protected].
