April 2024 – COA Patient Advocacy Network News Bulletin
Upcoming Advocacy Chats – Educational Conversations on Cancer Advocacy and Policy Issues
April 17: The Latest Cancer Policy Updates from Washington
This election year, cancer advocates will need to look out for movement on policies affecting cancer care delivery, access, and cost. Join Rose Gerber, MS, COA director of patient advocacy and education, and Nick Ferreyros, COA managing director of policy, advocacy, and communications, to learn about major cancer policy developments from the first half of the year, bills under consideration on Capitol Hill, and COA’s 2024 policy priorities on Wednesday, April 17 at 12 p.m. ET. Register Here.
ICYMI: Changing the Way Men Go Through Cancer
Cancer can be particularly isolating for men. Creating spaces where men feel supported during their cancer journey can make a significant difference in their treatment and outlook. COA’s Rose Gerber and Founder of Man Up to Cancer Trevor Maxwell discussed the importance of mental and emotional support for men undergoing treatment for cancer. Stream it on @OncologyCOA’s YouTube channel.
Patients and Cancer Survivors
You’re Invited – May 8, 2024 – COA Capitol Hill Day, Washington, D.C.
Patients and cancer survivors who were treated in a community oncology practice are invited to join us on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C.
Scholarship priority to advocates from: California, Delaware, Idaho, Illinois, Kentucky, Louisiana, New Hampshire, Oregon, Tennessee, Virginia, Washington
Time sensitive (Application must be completed by April 15th): Please contact Tracey Banks, CPAN Executive Assistant at [email protected], for more information.
Advocacy Spotlight
Jeff Vacirca, MD, FACP / COA’s Past President, Chief Executive Officer, Chairman, New York Cancer & Blood Specialists, New York, N.Y.
The need for more convenient, high-quality cancer care in a bustling community like the greater New York region is often unclear to those living outside of it. For Jeff Vacirca, MD, FACP—a lifelong New Yorker and CEO of New York Cancer & Blood Specialists (NYCBS)—it couldn’t have been more apparent.
“People in some of the most densely populated areas of New York couldn’t find the care they needed,” Dr. Vacirca explains. “That’s why community oncology practices like NYCBS are so important: we meet our patients in our community where they are.”
With locations across the city’s five boroughs, Long Island, and Upstate New York, NYCBS ensures community cancer care is available to all. The practice’s expansive reach and continued commitment to patients benefit from the total support of COA. Advocacy resources, operational support, and invaluable peer-to-peer networks equip practices like Dr. Vacirca’s with the tools they need to succeed.
Whatever the challenge facing community oncology and the patients treated in it, COA and its national network of practice professionals spring to action, ready to support and defend independent practices.
“COA is the reason that so many patients continue to have access to high-quality cancer care without needing to sacrifice their time or money,” says Dr. Vacirca. “With COA by our side, the future for community oncology will always be bright.”
• To learn about COA and CPAN advocates and their commitment to protecting locally delivered cancer care, visit CPAN’s Advocates & Their Stories page.
Cancer News You Can Use
Cancer Cases Could Increase 77% as Global Population Balloons. These Types are Most Common. – USA Today 04/04
The release of 2022 cancer data provides the latest insights into which types of cancer are most prevalent around the world as population growth is expected to drive global cases by as much as 77% by 2050. There were nearly 20 million new cancer cases and 9.7 million deaths from cancer in 2022, said the study published in the journal CA: A Cancer Journal for Clinicians. Numbers indicate that an estimated one in five people will be diagnosed with cancer in their life, and that will lead to death in one in nine men and one in twelve women, according to the report.
Overdosing on Chemo: A Common Gene Test Could Save Hundreds of Lives Each Year – KFF Health News 03/26
More than 275,000 cancer patients in the United States are infused each year with fluorouracil or take a nearly identical drug in pill form called capecitabine—and for those who are deficient in an enzyme that metabolizes the drugs, they can be torturous or deadly. Doctors can test for the deficiency and get results within a week, yet a recent survey found that only 3% of U.S. oncologists routinely order the tests before dosing patients with fluorouracil or capecitabine. That’s because the most widely followed U.S. cancer treatment guidelines don’t recommend preemptive testing.
How to Talk to Kids About a Cancer Diagnosis in the Family – NPR 03/25
Elizabeth Farrell, a clinical social worker with the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, says that a lot of caregivers’ first instinct may be to choose not to tell a person’s children about a cancer diagnosis, hoping to protect them. But she says that children have a right to know, especially in the early days of a diagnosis when there may be a flurry of activity at home—seeking doctors’ counsel, going to a lot of appointments, making many phone calls—and children are very likely sensing a change in the environment. “The worst thing that can happen is that a kid finds out about their parent’s illness from somebody else,” Farrell said.
Spotlight on Cancer Care: Coordinating Treatment Close to Home
Community oncology is more than just medical decisions – it’s about treating the whole patient. All members of the Texas Oncology team work together to ensure that Texans with cancer receive high-quality, coordinated care close to home. Learn how they support their patients in this Spotlight on Cancer Care.
Resources for Chapters
Early detection of cancer is critical because it can be identified in its most treatable stages. Check out the Time to Screen Advocacy Toolkit, a collaborative effort from COA and CancerCare that helps cancer advocates raise awareness of the importance of cancer screening.
Recent News & Updates
Cancer is a complex disease with many causes – and sometimes none. For some patients, getting cancer is down to plain bad luck.
Following lung cancer resection, patients had more improved exercise outcomes and health-related quality of life with a home-based exercise and self-management program vs. usual care, according to results published in JAMA Network Open.
The Community Oncology Alliance (COA) is pleased to announce that Debra Patt, MD, PhD, MBA, FASCO, has been elected president of COA.
Admitting she might sound like an eternal optimist, Alyssa Schatz, MSW, vice president, Policy and Advocacy, National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN), spent the fireside chat on the first day of the annual Patient-Centered Oncology Care (PCOC) meeting highlighting the progress she’s seen around responses to prior authorization (PA) policies and movement on equity.
