BREAST CANCER

The imPROVE study aims to bridge the gap in patient-reported outcomes (PRO) data for Black women with breast cancer by enhancing engagement with tailored electronic PROs (ePROs) and partnering with community leaders to address barriers and ensure accessibility and relevance in community cancer care settings. In this episode, CANCER BUZZ speaks with Manraj Kaur, PhD, investigator and lead faculty for research and innovation at Patient-Reported Outcomes, Value, and Experience (PROVE) center at Mass General Brigham and Andrea Pusic, MD, chief of division of plastic and reconstructive surgery, director of PROVE center at Mass General Brigham, and professor of surgery at Harvard Medical School about the imPROVE study’s efforts to enhance Black women’s engagement in ePROs in breast cancer treatment. Dr. Kaur sheds light on strategies to improve technology accessibility for Black women in their cancer care center by providing iPads and refined usability features on the imPROVE app. Dr. Pusic highlights imPROVE implementation results at five community cancer centers, including utilizing local champions and equitable access to resources.

Social determinants of health have been proven to impact access to care, but further delineation is necessary to describe their effect on treatment selection itself. To mitigate this knowledge gap, the Association of Cancer Care Centers (ACCC) sought to identify the impact that social determinants of health may have on guideline-concordant treatment selection in hormone receptor positive, HER2 negative, metastatic breast cancer and early breast cancer.

With disparate breast cancer outcomes, lack of messages of hope, and limited available support for Black women, Rev. Tammie and her late sister were inspired to co-found Carrie’s TOUCH in 2006.

With more and more patients being diagnosed with breast cancer and an improved prognosis for those living with the disease, there’s a clear need to find ways to offset high patient volumes while maintaining high-quality care for longer-term survivors.

ACCC conducted a national, institution-directed quality improvement initiative aimed at increasing the rates of guideline-concordant genetic counseling and testing in patients with Stage 0 to III breast cancer, where results could impact care.

Presented at the San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium®- December 5-9, 2023.

Presented at the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) Annual Meeting, June 3-7, 2022.

Presented at the 2021 ASCO Annual Meeting