
The Association of Community Cancer Centers (ACCC), building upon the National Cancer Institute’s Multidisciplinary Care Assessment Tool, created a model framework (Improving Care Coordination Model) for cancer care providers to use in improving care coordination for lung cancer patients covered by Medicaid.
The Model is a framework that includes 12 assessment areas with 5 levels. Within each level are service-asset criteria, with Level 1 representing the most basic provision of care and Level 5 representing the optimal best practice for care coordination. The Model is intended to help cancer programs improve to any achievable target level within a selected assessment area.
The Model is intended to be used by a multidisciplinary team that cares for cancer patients, including oncologists, hematologists, physician assistants, nurse practitioners, pharmacists, social workers, financial advocates, and administrators. The Model supports an objective assessment on how cancer care is provided at an institutional level. It serves as a scaffolding to build quality improvement initiatives focused on care coordination for all patients.
Read more about the model below.
This project is supported by Regeneron.
Overview
Guided by an interdisciplinary Advisory Committee, led by physician champion co-principal investigators, and a Technical Expert Panel, ACCC developed the Model in three phases:
Phase One—Research and Beta Model Development
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Phase Two—Testing the Beta Model
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Phase Three—Data Analysis and Outcomes
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The care coordination tool [the Model] really helped us formally evaluate our program. We knew that patients diagnosed with lung cancer were getting lost in our system. We had a lot of late-stage lung cancer patients, and we needed to improve our case planning so we could identify those patients sooner.
— Sherri Costa, MS, RN, AOCNS, Manager of Cancer Support Services & Quality Improvement Coordinator, Ascension Wheaton Memorial Medical Center