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Oncology Practice Transformation and Integration Center

Oncology programs and practices are continually challenged to keep pace with rapidly evolving clinical and technological advancements in the diagnosis, staging, and treatment of cancer. With approvals of new cancer drugs by the FDA each year and thousands of active clinical trials for cancer treatments in the U.S., the pipeline for new innovations is expanding. Incorporating the latest therapies and diagnostics into cancer programs can be difficult, particularly for lower-resourced community urban and rural practices, in which funding for training and new tools can be scarce.

To help facilitate education and training that new treatment options often require, ACCC has created the Oncology Practice Transformation and Integration Center (OPTIC). OPTIC has established a network of multidisciplinary professionals to support ongoing peer-to-peer learning and adoption of new therapies and technologies at community cancer centers.

OPTIC is guided by an expert steering committee representing the key disciplines involved in integrating new diagnostics, drug therapies, and guidelines. Some of OPTICs key deliverables include a three-part webinar series, a resource library, and an e-Learning activity. In the learning webinar series, “Building the Oncology Program of the Future,” experts discuss the intersection of organizational strategy, interpretation of data, and impact of quality improvement studies on health equity.

The OPTIC Resource Library provides relevant, useful information and tools on the adoption of new innovations and technologies for community cancer programs with a focus on operational issues. In addition, the OPTIC program is producing an interactive eLearning course that will support skill and knowledge building needed for healthcare teams to implement new innovations at their cancer program.

For more information on this project, please contact the ACCC Provider Education department.

 

OPTIC Quality Improvement Worksheets

Access a collection of quality improvement worksheets distributed during the pre-conference session hosted by OPTIC at ACCC’s 50th Annual Meeting & Cancer Center Business Summit, designed for implementation within your own setting:

Featured Resource

To better facilitate education around and adoption of new clinical and technological advancements in diagnosis, staging, and treatment, ACCC has developed a comprehensive Resource Library. The OPTIC Resource Library offers resources for the multidisciplinary care team to use to support adoption of innovations, emerging practices, or established guidelines in oncology across disciplines.
Access Resource Library

From the ACCCBuzz Blog

ACCC Webinar Series Bridges Oncology Care Knowledge Gaps


October 06, 2022
Hand moving in missing puzzle piece

As anti-cancer treatments become more precise and technological advancements continue at a rapid pace, oncology programs and practices are challenged to keep up. For oncologists and advanced practice providers (APPs), this means a steady increase in clinical information that must be integrated at the point of care. Cancer program administrators and other leaders are experiencing a similar increase in operational- and business-intelligence information. This potential information overload is creating what are known as knowledge gaps, which can lead to over- or under-testing and inconsistent treatment decisions. 

To better facilitate education and adoption of new advancements, the Association of Community Cancer Centers (ACCC) created the Oncology Practice Transformation and Integration Center (OPTIC) program. OPTIC established a network of multidisciplinary professionals to support ongoing peer-to-peer learning and the successful implementation of new therapies and technologies. In addition, OPTIC is focused on addressing critical educational and training needs for cancer programs and practices, designed to support the successful adoption of innovations, emerging practices, or established guidelines in oncology within care teams and across disciplines. 

One such tool is ACCC’s newly created OPTIC webinar series titled, “Building the Oncology Program of the Future.” Over a series of three webinars, ACCC is collaborating with oncology experts to present information on strategic planning, data collection and analysis, and quality improvement. Presented through a health equity lens, each webinar aims to support oncology professionals, so they can provide the highest quality of care to their patients. 

The first webinar, held on September 21, 2022, featured a discussion between Alieu Nyassi, MS, ELOC, assistant vice president of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion, and Douglas Flora, MD, LSSBB, executive medical director of Oncology Services at St. Elizabeth Healthcare. The discussion focused on the intersection of organizational strategic planning and health equity. 

The second webinar was held on Wednesday, October 5, featuring a presentation from Aaron Steiner, MBA, chief operating officer at Michiana Hematology Oncology. Steiner discussed the importance of using data and practice metrics to get the most from payers, freeing up providers for direct patient care, and improving the operational and fiscal strength of the cancer service line. Recordings for both webinars can be found on ACCC’s website

The third and final webinar of this series, slated for November 8, 2022, will examine the unintended consequences of quality improvement initiatives, including creating or perpetuating health disparities, and how to promote equitable access to biomarker testing. Michaela Dinan, PhD, associate professor of Epidemiology at Yale School of Public Health, and co-leader of Cancer Prevention and Control at Yale Cancer Center, will lead this webinar. To register for this learning opportunity, visit the event's registration page

Visit the ACCC OPTIC website for more information on this program. 

The Oncology Practice Transformation and Integration Center (OPTIC) program is supported by AstraZeneca

Interactive eCourse

A dynamic educational online course where members can learn at their own pace to acquire the key knowledge and skills necessary to succeed in the adoption of new innovations and technologies. The Innovation Bootcamp will provide foundational education that will highlight overarching educational needs and information regarding new innovations and facilitating adoption into the cancer care paradigm.
Explore eCourse

On-Demand Webinar

  • In this 3-part learning webinar series experts discuss the intersection of organizational strategy, interpretation of data, and impact of quality improvement studies on health equity.

 

Our Supporter

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This project is supported by AstraZeneca.