ACCC Center for Provider Education: Overview
ACCC's goal is to provide community-based cancer care programs with the skills necessary to increase their efficiency while maintaining the highest standards of quality care. The Center for Provider Education relies on educators with expertise in management of hospital and office-based cancer programs, financial analysis, policy and reimbursement, marketing, and healthcare economics to achieve this goal.
Through ACCC's Center for Provider Education, members can learn practical strategies for meeting the challenges of running a modern cancer center or group practice. Hands-on courses for physicians, practice managers, nurses, oncology pharmacists, financial officers, and coders/billers are available in cities throughout the country as well as on-line.
Yes! ACCC's Center for Provider Education courses make a difference in community-based cancer programs.
ACCC's e–learning environment is designed to provide easy access to an array of timely oncology-related continuing education programs. The ACCC Blackboard includes programming from educational companies, covering a range of topics for nurses, pharmacists, and physicians. Formats vary from slide shows to virtual lectures to newsletters. Upon completion of the activity, simply submit your learning assessment and/or evaluation form online, as explained by the course provider.
Treating Small-Population Cancers in the Community Setting
The Association of Community Cancer Centers has launched a ground-breaking program to provide community-based cancer care providers the tools they need to improve the quality of care for patients with small-population cancers. This educational project will be initiated with a focus on chronic myeloid leukemia (CML).
Transitions Between Care Settings: "Best Practices" Project
ACCC is studying the issue of care transition between the hospital cancer program and physician group practices. The goals are to 1) understand the challenges involved in transitioning cancer patients between care settings, 2) identify best practices for ensuring a smooth transition between the two care settings, and 3) provide educational materials and disseminate findings.
Community Clinical Perspectives
The Association of Community Cancer Centers and Medscape Oncology have launched an online educational initiative that offers a community provider perspective about emerging data and treatment strategies presented at scientific meetings, such as those of the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) and the American Society of Hematology (ASH).
In 2009 ACCC launched "Cancer Care Patient Navigation: A Call to Action," a project designed to help community cancer centers develop, implement, and/or enhance their patient navigation programs by 1) identifying barriers to programmatic success, 2) increasing successful implementation of patient navigation services and refining staffing models, and 3) establishing effective metrics for measuring patient navigation services internally and for benchmarking patient navigation services against other community cancer centers. A webcast and educational materials for ACCC members are available.
In 2009 ACCC also launched its "Prostate Cancer Best Practices Project." Its goal: to identify best practices that ensure 1) a multidisciplinary approach to prostate cancer care, 2) open communication, and 3) patient access to state-of-the-art treatment within the community. ACCC provided its members with a webcast and educational materials designed to help them gain market share and provide patients with access to various provider specialists in a non-threatening, patient-focused environment.
In 2010 the Association of Community Cancer Centers distributed results and analysis of year 2 of its national "Cancer Care Trends in Community Cancer Centers" survey, which is designed to help cancer programs understand the implications of these trends and identify alternative and effective organizational adaptations.
ACCC examined and provided data on a number of vital issues, including:
- Infusion center space, nurse-to-patient staffing ratios in the infusion center, likelihood that cancer program patient volumes will increase as community oncologists reduce infusions
- Scope of cancer service line
- Consolidation
- Pharmacists' role
- Acuity system use and advantage in setting staffing levels
- EMR prevalence
- Use of new technologies and clinical technology capital budgets
- Use of reimbursement specialists and the effect on program financial health.
In 2008, ACCC launched its Cancer Survivorship Project for community cancer programs to help develop, enhance, and expand services to cancer survivors in their home communities. Included is "Comprehensive Survivorship Services: A Practical Guide for Community Cancer Centers" includes practical tools and articles—model programs, survivorship care templates, and more. It's designed to help your cancer program build, strengthen, and expand comprehensive survivorship services.
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