In partnership with our member cancer programs and practices, the Association of Cancer Care Centers (ACCC) shares a commitment to advancing delivery and access to high-quality cancer care. Across healthcare—and cancer care—we recognize the critical need to lessen and eliminate health disparities by advancing health equity.
Health equity is achieved when all individuals have the opportunity to reach their full health potential without being held back by their social position or other socially-determined circumstances. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention defines health equity simply and clearly: it is when everyone has the opportunity to be as healthy as possible.
ACCC recognizes the value patients place on receiving treatment in their home communities. By supporting our members and the entire oncology specialty, we can prioritize equity, diversity, and inclusion in quality cancer care delivery, as well as within the oncology workforce.
ACCC continues to develop resources and tools to better understand and support equity initiatives in cancer prevention and detection, diagnosis and treatment, access to clinical trials, survivorship and end-of-life care. Please continue to check this webpage for new updates on this important work.
In response to the need for cancer screening and care in Appalachia, ACCC—together with several of its state chapters—launched the Rural Appalachian Lung Cancer Screening Initiative to identify effective evidence-based practices that can be replicated throughout the region.
Health Literacy: From Assessment to Action features three case studies from cancer programs who are advancing their delivery of patient-centered care by integrating key attributes of a health literate healthcare program.
The ACORI Clinical Research Terms Glossary will help establish a standardized understanding across the cancer care team, can improve patient education, and encourage shared decision-making conversations.
The Veterans Care Resource Library provides curated patient guides, research articles, videos, and tools to support veterans with cancer and their families and caregivers.
Health Literacy Gap Assessment can help cancer programs identify educational needs and pinpoint areas where targeted education could improve patient care.
Prostate Disparities Resource Library incorporates publications, tools, and other assets to help cancer programs reduce disparities and improve early detection and patient care.
The Ask Me 3® video teaches cancer team members how to better anticipate and respond to patients’ concerns by using a clear, empathetic, and effective approach to communication throughout the care continuum.
Health Literacy Post-Assessment Resources provide tools from the six assessment domains to support your improvement plan(s).
By championing and encouraging advanced practice providers and allied health professionals to work at the top of their licenses, Wilmot Cancer Institute offers comprehensive care close to home through its breast care program that vastly improves the patient experience.
Recognizing the critical role advanced practice providers and allied health professionals play in the care continuum, the American Oncology Network provides infrastructure, leadership, and professional growth opportunities to empower these members of the cancer care team to practice at the top of their license.
This January, ACCC invites its membership to take part in promoting cervical cancer awareness by sharing resources and research about the importance of the HPV vaccine and regular screening, to work towards a future free of cervical cancer.
In recognition of Lung Cancer Awareness Month, ACCC spotlights the ongoing need for more robust research, expanded treatment options, and early diagnosis and intervention for a disease that, though it impacts millions of lives, is often under-discussed.
There is an increasing awareness of the importance of screening for social drivers of health (SDOH) for patients with cancer. Social drivers like income level and stable housing can impact a patient’s access to quality cancer care. To help multidisciplinary teams in oncology care screen for SDOH, ACCC has developed a screening tool to help identify potential SDOH factors that may hinder access to cancer treatment and clinical trial participation. In this episode, CANCER BUZZ speaks with Richard Martin III, MD, MPH, medical director of Health Equity and Community Engagement at Tennessee Oncology and Dana McDaniel, DNP, FNP-C, AOCNP, director of Oncology and Clinical Research at Mosaic Life Care about their experiences using the screening tool as part of ACCC’s pilot program.
Social determinants of health have been proven to impact access to care, but further delineation is necessary to describe their effect on treatment selection itself. To mitigate this knowledge gap, the Association of Cancer Care Centers (ACCC) sought to identify the impact that social determinants of health may have on guideline-concordant treatment selection in hormone receptor positive, HER2 negative, metastatic breast cancer and early breast cancer.
CANCER BUZZ previews the sessions, people and topics of this week’s ACCC 40th National Oncology Conference. We interview Kathy Oubre, MS, CEO of the Pontchartrain Canter Center, about helping patients overcome access barriers to biomarker testing.
To help older patients become digitally literate, the Patient Empowerment Network offers a free program that teaches older adults with cancer valuable technology skills.
Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center shares how auricular acupuncture, a safe, feasible, and cost-effective therapy, that stimulates points on the ear, can reduce the pain and psychological distress experienced by patients with cancer.
In his first president's message, Olalekan Ajayi PharmD, MBA discusses his 2023-2024 ACCC President’s Theme: (Re)Building the Oncology Workforce to Deliver Next Generation Cancer Care.
This next year, as we emerge out of COVID-19’s shadow and into a landscape that has been forever altered by the worldwide pandemic, it is important that we reflect on what we witnessed this past year—not only the suffering but the “wins.”
With disparate breast cancer outcomes, lack of messages of hope, and limited available support for Black women, Rev. Tammie and her late sister were inspired to co-found Carrie’s TOUCH in 2006.