[Abstract #96] Identifying Obstacles to Optimal Integration of Cancer Immunotherapies in the Community Setting

Latha Shivakumar PhD¹ , Christine Weldon MBA² , Ali McBride, PharmD, MS, BCOP³ , Igor Puzanov, MD, MSCI, FACP⁴ , Joanne Riemer, RN, MSN⁵ , Matthew Zibelman, MD⁶ , and Leigh Boehmer, PharmD, BCOP¹ .

¹Association of Community Cancer Centers, Rockville, MD, ²Northwestern University, Chicago, IL,
³The University of Arizona Cancer Center, Tucson, AZ,
⁴Roswel Park Cancer Institute, Buffalo, NY,
⁵Johns Hopkins Hospital, Baltimore, MD,
⁶Fox Chase Cancer Center, Philadelphia, PA

Rapidly expanding indications and new approvals for cancer immunotherapies pose significant challenges to integrating this new class of agents into practice for community clinicians. They need guidance around the practical issues that must be addressed before implementing immunotherapy safely and effectively to patients in community-based cancer programs. The Association of Community Cancer Centers (ACCC) initiated a quality improvement (QI) research study to assess the impact of comprehensive educational interventions targeting the multidisciplinary cancer care team on evidence-based integration of immunotherapies in the community.

The overall goal of this research study is to identify barriers to optimal integration of cancer immunotherapies and to assess the impact of educational interventions on the integration of immunotherapies for treating cancer in the community.