Association of Community Cancer Centers Supports Biden’s Moonshot Plans, Offers Resources and Tools to White House Effort

WASHINGTON, D.C. - The Association of Community Cancer Centers (ACCC) fully supports President Biden’s plans to reignite his Cancer Moonshot initiative. 

ACCC recently extended to the Administration resources and tools from current member programs with a specific focus on cancer prevention for underserved and marginalized patient populations to advance the shared goal of significantly reducing the cancer death rate and improving patient care. ACCC also communicated pilot project objectives from ACCC’s joint collaboration with the American Society of Clinical Oncology, which seeks to increase racial and ethnic diversity in cancer clinical trials. 

A report released February 2 by the President’s Cancer Panel, entitled Closing Gaps in Cancer Screening: Connecting People, Communities, and Systems to Improve Equity and Access, outlined several major goals and recommendations to ensure that the benefits of cancer screening reach all populations, including increased funding for community outreach and support, and strengthening of workforce collaborations to empower all members of the healthcare team to support screening and genetic testing.

Many of the recommendations of the President’s Cancer Panel are underway at ACCC member programs and in existing ACCC programming to improve equitable screening and outreach, access to care, and access to genetic testing and counseling.  Many of these efforts were outlined in a recent ACCCBuzz blog post.  “These recommendations align perfectly with the core values of ACCC, as our member programs strive to connect and advocate for equitable care across the country,” said Krista Nelson, MSW, LCSW, OSW-C, FAOSW, and ACCC President. “On a personal note, as a clinical social worker who has the opportunity to work with some of the most vulnerable [patients] on a daily basis, I am grateful for President Biden’s attention and spotlight on these issues, and I hope that together our community will create real change and make healthcare—including mental healthcare—accessible and affordable for all.”

ACCC has long supported the Moonshot initiative. President (2016-2017) Jennie R. Crews, MD, MMM, FACP, participated in a June 29, 2016, Cancer Moonshot Summit held in Washington, D.C., where a diverse group of stakeholders, including cancer patients, advocacy groups, researchers, providers, and industry members, was tasked with developing action items to address a number of challenges in cancer care, including access to clinical trials; ethnic, socioeconomic, and geographic disparities; use of precision medicine; and cancer prevention and control.

“The relaunch of Cancer Moonshot is an exciting and welcome announcement. The original message of urgency to end cancer as we know it through research and improved treatment is echoed in this revamp, but with a renewed focus on prevention, screening, and addressing disparities,” applauded Dr. Crews. “With our broad membership of community and academic cancer programs in rural and urban settings, and representation from the entire cancer team, ACCC is an ideal partner to contribute to innovative solutions that support the Cancer Moonshot initiative.”