A One-Stop Breast Clinic Improves Time to Diagnosis and Patient Satisfaction

This is the last blog post in a 6-part series recognizing the achievements of the 2024 ACCC Innovator Award winners before their in-depth sessions at the ACCC 41st National Oncology Conference. You can learn more about the innovations being recognized this year and those who pioneered them by joining ACCC in Minneapolis, Minnesota, from October 9-11, 2024.

Every 2 minutes, a woman is diagnosed with breast cancer in the United States. This year, an estimated 310,720 women and 2,800 men will be diagnosed with the disease and at St. Luke’s University Health Network, St. Luke’s Cancer Center, these patients will find the first rapid diagnostic breast clinic in the US. Modeled after the original One-Stop Breast Clinic at the Gustav Roussy Institute in France, the pioneering initiative improves clinic workflow and accelerates breast cancer diagnosis and treatment planning.

To date, more than 800 patients have benefited from this approach, receiving their diagnosis in an average of 2 days, far below the national average of 26 days. According to Michele Brands, network director, Women's Imaging, St. Luke's University Health Network, the goal of the One-Stop Breast Clinic is to further reduce the turn-around-time for patients requiring diagnostic imaging to pathology from 6 to 8 days to 48 hours or less.

This initiative earned St Luke’s a 2024 Association of Cancer Care Centers (ACCC) Innovator Award. Looking ahead to the ACCC 41^st National Oncology Conference this fall, ACCCBuzz spoke to Brands and Karl Yaeger, MD, diagnostic radiologist; fellowship trained in Women's Imaging Division Chief of Women's Imaging, St. Luke's University Health Network, to learn more about their program. 

ACCCBuzz: How long has St. Luke’s University Health Network, St. Luke’s Cancer Center been an ACCC member?

Brands: We have been members since 2021.

ACCCBuzz: What do you love most about being an ACCC member?

Brands: ACCC represents the whole trajectory of care that involves every person that touches the patient, so it is great to have that platform of knowledge sharing and best practices. It is always exciting and encouraging to work with likeminded professionals all over who have that singular focus on improving outcomes for patients.

ACCCBuzz: What makes your cancer program unique?

Brands: All programs say that they provide patient centered care from A to Z, and we live that out in every single decision we make and that was the basis for this innovative program. We felt we were doing a great job with the tools and tactics to reduce a woman’s anxiety around the diagnostic and imaging process, but we wanted to do better. Everything we do is tied around reducing a woman’s anxiety throughout the [diagnostic] process, and that’s been our guiding principle.

Dr. Yaeger: St. Luke’s has always strived to provide quality, patient-centric care. From our first centralization of breast imaging operations to our most recent creation of the One-Stop Breast Clinic, the patient has been at the center. Our hospital leadership has always supported us to the fullest in new initiatives to improve patient care.

ACCCBuzz: How have these traits helped you win this award?

Brands: St. Luke’s is a 100 Top Hospital; we’ve had the privilege of being the Top Teaching Hospital in the US, and we have the longest running school of nursing program. Those are points of pride for us, and I share that because we have this appetite for education and quality. We also demonstrate that commitment to education for our patients. If a woman doesn’t want to come and get a screening mammogram, we’re all in, we want her to know why she needs to come every year. We want her to understand why it is important and understand how the process works. That constant drive for excellence allowed us to take advantage of the opportunity to implement the One-Stop Breast Clinic model.

Dr. Yaeger: The One-Stop Breast Clinic was our commitment to provide breast care in the most convenient format possible. We realized problems existed with the conventional imaging paradigm of separate appointments for diagnostic imaging and biopsy. However, this scheduling format is for the benefit of maximizing schedules. It is far more convenient for the patient to have diagnostic breast imaging and biopsy in the same appointment.

ACCCBuzz: ACCC President Nadine J. Barrett, PhD, MA, MS, centered her theme on Reimagining Community Engagement and Equity in Cancer. In what ways has your program performed community engagement?

Brands: We have robust community engagement initiatives all year. October is the biggest month and [in the past] we have done 31 [community] events in 31 days. We are constantly growing and developing our relationships with our community partners. We have a 3-year relationship with the National Council of Negro Women (NCNW) in Monroe County and we do an event for them that we’re so passionate about because this demographic has a high rate of breast cancer. Having the opportunity to work with this group and help them spread the information about the importance of annual screening has been great. We also work with church groups, salvation army, and women experiencing homelessness.

ACCCBuzz: What can attendees expect from your session at the ACCC 41st National Oncology Conference?

Brands: We hope that they go away inspired and take what we’ve discovered as best practice back to their own program and challenge themselves to really look at all aspects of their program. The way we have developed it is what we truly believe is the gold standard for an organization wanting to do a One-Stop Breast Clinic, but even if [attendees] cannot implement the whole thing, they can take some aspects of it.

Dr. Yaeger: We will explore the background of the One-Stop Breast Clinic, various iterations of the clinic, patient and provider feedback, numbers and statistics, keys to success and future directions.