3, 2, 1, Go! Practical Solutions for Addressing Cancer Care Disparities

Although there have been significant advances during the past several decades in cancer prevention, early detection, and treatment, not all Americans have benefited equally from them. Racial and ethnic minorities with cancer continue to experience higher morbidity and mortality rates compared to White populations. Multiple social determinants of health contribute to disparities in care and outcomes among different groups. These can include distrust in the healthcare system, insufficient or lack of health insurance, economic and systemic obstacles to care access, cultural barriers, implicit and explicit bias, and low health literacy.

To help address identified gaps in care, the Hawaii Society of Clinical Oncology (HSCO), The Arizona Clinical Oncology Society (TACOS), and the Texas Society of Clinical Oncology (TxSCO)—all Chapter Members of the Association of Community Cancer Centers (ACCC)—will each develop and implement a community-based educational initiative that will identify and address disparities among groups specific to each state’s population:

• HSCO will focus on Native Hawaiians and Pacific Islanders
  HSCO Health Equity Initiative
• TACOS will focus on the American Indian population living off reservations and outside of the Indian Health Service
  TACOS Health Equity Initiative
• TxSCO will focus on the Latinx/Hispanic American population
  TxSCO Health Equity Initiative

This program, called 3, 2, 1, Go! will task each state society with aggregating 3 “go-to” resources to advance equity in cancer care, make 2 recommendations to eliminate disparities in care, and identify 1 major gap in care that the organization wants to address. To gather this information, each state society will establish an equity and access committee, conduct surveys and focus groups of patients and providers, aggregate and publish resources at the state and local levels, and come together to host a health equity summit with key stakeholders.

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