Home > Meetings : 2011 National Oncology Conference
Highlights from the ACCC 2011 28th National Oncology Conference
October 19–22, 2011
Seattle, Washington
Achieve Excellence
Nearly 600 cancer care professionals gathered in Seattle to learn practical ideas to help make their programs more competitive, efficient, effective, and financially viable. Sessions on virtual communications, survivorship care, and leveraging information technology, for example, were designed to help attendees improve the quality and performance of their programs. And at ACCC's Oncology Pharmacy Education Network Pre-conference, members of the pharmacy team explored the latest pharmacy trends and strategies, from specialty pharmacies to adherence to oral anti-cancer drug regimens, in both hospitals and private practices.
Innovate
Innovation is a word meeting attendees heard throughout the conference. This year ACCC redefined the meeting to showcase the creative achievements of 14 ACCC Innovator Award Winners. These ACCC programs were chosen because of the outstanding solutions they developed in such areas as the strategic planning process, reducing tobacco-related illness, telepharmacy, and even ways to meet the oncology-related fertility needs of cancer patients. ACCC will be inviting members to submit new ideas and model programs for consideration for the 2012 Innovator Award. We look forward to hearing about your innovations!
Appreciate
ACCC honored its dedicated 30-year cancer program members for their long-standing dedication to the Association of Community Cancer Centers and the mission to advance quality cancer care in their communities. Of the fifty 30-year cancer program members, representatives from 17 were on hand to receive recognition for their support. ”They helped shape the Association into the leading education and advocacy organization for the cancer team," said ACCC President Thomas Whittaker, MD, FACP.
Aim High
Television adventure expert and global anthropologist Jeff Salz, PhD, helped meeting attendees discover how their own sense of adventure can bring new creativity and meaning to the workplace and to life. Dr. Salz is a guest expert on adventure for the CBS Early Morning show, and he creates and stars in adventure specials for the Discovery Network. "Insist on living an interesting life," Salz said during his keynote address. For him, that interesting life included mountain climbing in Patagonia, sailing a reed boat on Lake Titicaca, and living as a gaucho in Argentina. For those in the audience who had no such wanderlust, Salz explained that an interesting life includes giving up what no longer works. "Be unafraid to fail. The very size of our dream determines the size of our lives." Read more.
Dream Big
John D. Sprandio, MD, lead physician with Consultants in Medical Oncology and Hematology, PC, explored how his group practice sought to re-engineer its processes of care and infrastructure to streamline and standardize care, reduce unnecessary resources, minimize clinically irrelevant physician activity, maintain a patient-centric approach, and fix accountability at the patient/physician locus. How did his practice attempt to realize the dream? Through oncology patient-centered medical home (OPCMH), which involves partnership with primary care physicians to coordinate, integrate, and document care.
Sprandio's practice interfaces with the patients' primary care providers to facilitate data sharing, which in turn allows enhanced management of the initial hematology/oncology evaluation, establishment of the point of first triage, identification of potentially avoidable complications, and the embedding of case management into processes of care. Aiming high with OPCMH turned into a real savings of $9,468,787 in 2010 to payers in reduced hospital and ER admissions for the practice’s 792 chemotherapy patients.
Be Inspired
Association of Community Cancer Centers' President Thomas L. Whittaker, MD, FACP (right) presented Al B. Benson III, MD, FACP, with ACCC's 2011 Outstanding Achievement in Clinical Research Award for his extensive research, leadership, and commitment to individuals with cancer. Dr. Benson is a professor of medicine in the Division of Hematology/Oncology at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine in Chicago, Ill. He is also associate director for clinical investigations, Robert H. Lurie Comprehensive Cancer Center, at Northwestern. Dr. Benson’s research is primarily in the areas of gastrointestinal cancer clinical trials, cancer clinical trials, biologic therapies, phase I cancer clinical trials, and cancer guideline development. His research in biologics, cancer therapy, and cancer prevention has been awarded funding from a variety of sources including the National Institutes of Health. Dr. Benson is chair of the Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group’s Gastrointestinal Committee and its Data Monitoring Committee.
Tour de Force
Conference attendees were treated to a three-hour tour of the Seattle Cancer Care Alliance (SCCA), a cancer treatment center located just north of downtown Seattle adjacent to Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center. SCCA was founded in 1998 by the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, UW Medicine, and Seattle Children's as a separate, jointly governed entity aimed at advancing both the research and treatment of cancer. The Hutchinson Center, UW Medicine, and Children's consolidated their adult and pediatric medical oncology/hematology clinical care programs at SCCA and each shares equal ownership of SCCA. Shown in this photograph is Karen Holloway, Manager, Radiation Oncology. Attendees also visited the Seattle Cancer Care Alliance Physical Therapy Program, where therapists design a rehabilitation program for each individual patient.
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