Agenda

8:00 AM – 1:00 PM
Institute for the Future of Oncology Pre-Conference

Explore solutions on how to best leverage technology solutions and platforms to support the oncology workforce.
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11:00 AM – 3:00 PM
Financial Advocacy Network Pre-Conference

Discover practical tools, resources and best practices for building and enhancing your financial navigation services.
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5:30 – 7:00 PM
Opening Reception in the Exhibit Hall

7:00 – 8:00 AM
Breakfast in the Exhibit Hall

8:00 – 8:15 AM
Welcome & Opening Remarks

8:15 – 9:00 AM
Opening Keynote: Little Big Bangs: Innovate and Improve in Challenging Times
Julie Holmes, Innovation & Tech-xpert

Healthcare—especially oncology—is rife with competing demands that make it particularly challenging to engage staff in innovation. Yet, even when your days are already full, your budget limited, and ideas are either non-existent or overwhelming, innovation is possible through “Little Big Bangs!”  or micro-innovations. Buckle up for a new approach to innovation that leverages technology and focuses on finding and delivering everyday improvements that add up to big results for your cancer care team and your patients.

9:10 – 9:40 AM
Addressing Social Determinants of Health Through a Medical-Legal Partnership
Allison L. Held, JD, Associate General Counsel & Director, Medical-Legal Partnership at VCU Health System, Virginia Commonwealth University Health System, VCU Massey Cancer Center

This collaboration of legal and healthcare professionals helps patients with cancer resolve social and environmental factors that contribute to health disparities and have a remedy in civil law. Through this program, the cancer center partners with a non-profit that connects patients with low incomes to pro bono legal services, financial counseling, and community resources. Learn how embedding lawyers in a healthcare setting can directly resolve specific problems for individual patients; help clinical and non-clinical staff navigate system and policy barriers; and transform institutional practices. More than 90% of patients using this program report that this assistance allowed them to focus more time and energy on their health.

9:45 – 10:15 AM
Chemotherapy Care Companion: Improving Outcomes Through Digital Medicine
Zoe Larned, MD, System Chair of Hematology & Oncology, Ochsner Health, Ochsner Cancer Institute

Upon receipt of a completed Chemotherapy Care Companion consent questionnaire sent via an online patient portal app, patients receive an iHealth digital scale, blood pressure cuff, and ear thermometer free of charge. They are assigned a series of daily tasks, including a symptom survey, weight entry, temperature entry, AM/PM blood pressure, and heart rate reading, with automatic push notification reminders for completion in their patient portal app. Vital signs are uploaded automatically from their integrated Bluetooth devices to the patient portal and into the electronic health record. From January 2020 through December 2021, 284 enrollments occurred with 50% being patients with Stage 4 disease. Ages ranged from 23 to 86 years old with a compliance rate of 67%, which indicated that patients successfully completed more than 50% of their daily vitals and questionnaire tasks. Preliminary data shows that Chemotherapy Care Companion reduced the total number of emergency department visits and admissions by 33%.

10:15 – 11:00 AM
Networking Break in the Exhibit Hall

11:00 – 11:30 AM
Expediting Cancer Treatment Through a Rapid Access APP-Led Diagnostic Clinic
Erin Heuser, MBOE, RT(R)(T), LSSBB, CCMP, Senior Process Engineer, Arthur G. James Cancer Hospital and Richard J. Solove Research Institute (OSUCCC – James)

In response to data that showed a significant decrease in both the volume of cancer screening tests and the number of cancer diagnoses, the James Cancer Diagnostic Center opened to provide patients with direct, expedited access to diagnostic testing. Open five days a week for same- or next-day in-person or virtual appointments, this advanced practice provider-led center provides a novel “front door” to the cancer hospital. To date, more than 600 patients have been seen in this center, with 40% being referred onto a sub-specialty provider., This clinic offers a unique opportunity to extend diagnostic services from the inpatient to outpatient setting.

11:35 AM – 12:05 PM
A Model for Embedding Primary Care in Oncology
Debra Delaney MSN, FNP-BC, Primary Care Nurse Practitioner, ChristianaCare’s Helen F. Graham Cancer Center & Research Institute

This person-centered model of care embeds a primary care provider (PCP) in the cancer clinic to see patients with comorbidities who are in active treatment and who report having no PCP. In the first six months of the pilot, oncologists referred more than 70 patients to the nurse practitioner (NP). When patients complete active treatment, the NP can connect them with a PCP outside the cancer clinic to help support patients’ transition to survivorship care. Learn how this interdepartmental collaboration between the oncology service line and the department of family medicine reaped across-the-board benefits, including improved patient access and care coordination, decreased levels of patient stress, quickly and efficiently addressed comorbidities and other health concerns, and reduced treatment delays.

12:05 – 12:35
Deploying Technology Across an Interdisciplinary Team to Improve Oral Oncolytic Compliance
Morgan Nestingen, MSN, APRN, AGCNS-BC, NEA-BC, OCN, ONN-CG, Director of Nursing, Patient Intake and Navigation Services, Baptist Health’s Miami Cancer Institute

This cross-departmental team of clinic nurses, nurse navigators, pharmacists, and pharmacy technicians partnered to evaluate existing processes and leverage technology to improve oral oncolytic compliance through education, consent, and adherence standards. Readily available technology like Zoom and Cisco Jabber support patient education, DocuSign allows digital signatures, and Microsoft Teams facilitates ongoing review of prescriptions. After this quality improvement initiative, oral oncolytic education and consent gathering increased from 60% to 100%, with 90% occurring on the same day an oral oncolytic was prescribed.

12:35 – 1:15 PM
Lunch in the Exhibit Hall

1:30 – 4:30 PM
Workshop 1. Building Sustainable Coalitions in Your Community
Sanford E. Jeames, DHA, Adjunct Professor, Huston-Tillotson University; Co-Chair, Health Equity Outcomes Committee, American Society of Clinical Oncology; and Coordinator of Health Sciences Program, Austin Independent School District
Sanford E. Jeames, DHA, Adjunct Professor, Huston-Tillotson University; Co-Chair, ASCO Health Equity Outcomes Committee, Coordinator of Health Sciences Program, Austin ISD
Lailea Noel, PhD, Assistant Professor, Steve Hicks School of Social Work and Assistant Professor of Oncology and Health Social Work, Dell Medical School, The University of Texas at Austin

An interactive education and training to help members of the multidisciplinary cancer care team build sustainable and productive relationships and coalitions with community organizations. Participate in group discussions and exercises to understand how partnerships support communities’ needs and engage communities in shared ideas to improve population-based health. Learn strategies and hear from your colleagues on how these partnerships can improve the care your cancer program or practice provides to disparate patient populations, including Black, Latinx, Asian, and other people of color, LGBTQ+ community members, older Americans, and those who live in rural areas. Participants will explore issues around cultural humility, internal and system bias, empathy, building trust with communities, the importance of diverse perspectives, and the role these perspectives play in the development of goals and tasks necessary to build sustainable and productive community coalitions.

Workshop 2. Understanding Implicit Bias in Oncology
Mo Barbosa, Senior Director of Community Engagement 
Laurie Jo Wallace, MA, Managing Director of Training and Capacity Building 
Health Resources in Action

This interactive training focuses on exploring the concept of implicit bias and how our values and experiences play a big role in how we work at our cancer programs and practices. Participants will have an opportunity to reflect on their own values and how those values affect how they perceive themselves and the world around them. This training will also provide participants with strategies to examine how they can check their assumptions to better support their staff, patients, and broader community.

Workshop 3. Finding Joy and Improving Self-Care
Carly Caminiti, MS, Director, The 84 Movement, Health Resources in Action

This interactive training will give participants an opportunity to re-engage with their passion for why they work in oncology, and a special chance to reflect with their colleagues on working during the COVID-19 pandemic. Participants will learn from each other about strategies to tackle burnout, revive their joy in cancer care delivery, and think positively about the future. They will have time to describe their own needs, as individuals, that will ultimately help them better enjoy their work, colleagues, and workplace. The session will identify strategies to promote resiliency and individual self-care, keeping in mind the increased burden that working remotely may continue to have.

Workshop 4. Best of Community Cancer Care
Facilitator: TBA

The ACCC Best of Community Cancer Care initiative is aimed to provide guidance on the translation of new clinical and operational updates into patient care strategies by promoting collaboration between community oncology clinicians and cancer program administrators. This workshop will offer opportunities for discussion with leading oncology experts on the tools and resources in specific areas of oncology management that can be used to achieve effective cancer care delivery and improve the patient experience.

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7:00 – 8:00 AM
Breakfast in the Exhibit Hall

8:00 – 9:00 AM
ACCC Awards Presentations 

9:10 – 9:40
Leveraging Data Analytics to Mobilize the Workforce and Prepare for the Future
Erica DeBoer, RN, MA, CCRN-K, CNL, Chief Nursing Officer, Sanford Health

Sanford Health, the largest rural health system in the country, is deploying a data-driven approach to manage clinical workforce scheduling and staffing needs. Learn how the organization is leveraging technology and exploring new care delivery models to solve workforce challenges, enhance nurse satisfaction, and improve patient quality outcomes. Sanford Health’s nursing leadership, enterprise data analytics, and innovation and commercialization teams are implementing data analytics and artificial intelligence tools that enable the organization to more precisely schedule clinical staff based on patient demand forecasting. By harnessing the power of predictive modeling and analytics, the health system is gleaning new insights into clinical workforce needs to optimize future staffing and scheduling decisions. Then learn what communication and change management strategies have been critical to the project’s success.

Preparing for Population Health in Oncology
Mike Koroscik, Vice President, Oncology, Allina Health Cancer Institute, Allina Health

Navigating population health management in oncology tackles two of the most pressing and interrelated healthcare challenges: unsustainable spending and an increasingly complex patient population. Allina Health Cancer Institute recently engaged in a population health, value-based contract with its largest commercial payer, including immediate implementation of strategies to address oncology costs. Learn about the analytic and organizational support necessary to address total cost of care considerations. Understand how clinical risk stratification programs and other technology can minimize clinical variation and costs. Hear tactical and design solutions from oncology urgent care to patient digital health tools. Recognize how the transition to population health reimbursement may impact physician leadership models.

9:45 – 10:15 AM
Developing a Leadership Pipeline within Cancer Teams: Knowing and Growing your Talent
Barbara Schmidtman, PhD, MAOL, CNMT, Executive Director, Cancer Health, Spectrum Health West Michigan

Identifying talent within cancer teams and knowing how to leverage that talent is more important than ever before. Experience an empirical, real-life journey of applying basic principles for identifying talent, comparing leadership traits, understanding what the data are revealing, and learning how to put these principles into practice. Discuss why talent and leadership identification is so important in cancer care. Review talent and leadership principles and then learn how to identify those with talent and/or leadership characteristics. Study current recruitment and retention trends for cancer and discuss case studies of when talent selection and leadership development “went right” or “went wrong.”

Elements of a Model Supportive Care Program
Juan I. Lombeida, MD, Director of Supportive Care Department, Highlands Oncology Group

A review of the essential components and values needed to develop and implement an effective, patient-centric, and oncologist focused supportive care program.

10:15 – 11:00 AM
Networking Break in the Exhibit Hall

11:00 – 11:30 AM
Navigating the Great Resignation: Rebuilding the Oncology Workforce and Creating Sustainability for the Future
Stephanie Hobbs, MHSM, CMPE, Associate Principal
Meagan O’Neill, Senior Manager
ECG Management Consultants

This session provides cancer programs with a practical framework for provider and staff recruitment, retention, and succession planning, to help oncology workforce plan for the challenges ahead. Hear practical strategies for creating sustainable oncology practice models during or following periods of staffing shortages or work force disruptions. Learn tactical approaches to help cancer programs maximize their capacity and achieve program growth, while simultaneously reducing labor costs. Understand industry workforce trends and satisfaction drivers for healthcare providers and staff. Know how and when to tee up a new recruit, as well as considerations for working new physicians into an established group model. Hear about opportunities to enhance your practice’s care model and improve employee retention.

Recruitment and Retention of Community-Based General Surgical Oncology Services
Larry Wagman, MD, FACS, FPCS(Hon), Clinical Professor, Surgery, and Regional Medical Director, Inland Empire and South Bay Regions, City of Hope National Medical Center

Creating teams that effectively and consistently provide operative surgical care require strategies and operationalization for long-term stability. Plans must be developed that are algorithmic in nature and designed based on predetermined goals. Endpoints to be considered for the team is a prerequisite. Members of the team will include schedulers, advanced practice providers (nurse practitioners and physician assistants), intra-operative surgical nurses, surgical technicians, and surgical oncologists. By gearing recruitment and selection to the ultimate care delivery goal, you create a foundation for a successful team whose collaborative interaction yields retention. A spectrum of “tricks of the trade” and “boots on the ground experience” will be shared as methods to design successful individual programs.

11:35 AM – 12:05 PM
Oncology Navigation Career Ladders Improve Recruitment, Retention, and Professional Development
Tania Silva Santos, MSN, RN, OCN, ONN-CG, Manager, Patient Navigation Services
Morgan Nestingen, MSN, APRN, AGCNS-BC, NEA-BC, OCN, ONN-CG, Director of Nursing, Patient Intake and Navigation Services
Baptist Health, Miami Cancer Institute

To improve staff retention, development, and engagement, this cancer program examined national competencies and recommendations, comparing them to the daily tasks and skills of its oncology navigation team. Nurse and patient (lay) navigators participated in staff-led role design, revising job descriptions and crafting professional development ladders. These efforts empower staff to advance professionally with minimal leadership oversight. Patient navigators receive training according to national lay navigation standards, disease sites, and individual clinics, with 6 out of 10 patient navigators obtaining certification (OPN-CG) and being promoted to advanced roles. Almost half (12 out of 29) nurse navigators are slated to be promoted to advanced roles. Additionally, an oncology navigation curriculum is being developed to support building expertise and certification. Today, nurse navigators work closely with assigned patient navigators to support annual caseloads of approximately 250 and 550 new patients with cancer, respectively.

Enhancing the Role of the Pharmacist to Improve Career Satisfaction
Sepideh Shayani, PharmD, BCOP, Executive Director of Pharmacy Enterprise
Wafa Samara, PharmD, Chief Pharmacy Officer 
City of Hope Pharmacy Enterprise

Development of a pharmacist career ladder required a complete restructure of this pharmacy department, decentralizing clinical services and consolidating and centralizing operational activities. The new career ladder recognizes unique talents and strengths and aligns pharmacists to their areas of expertise. Two new roles complimentary to an existing clinical pharmacist I role were created—clinical pharmacist II (CP2) and clinical pharmacist specialist (CPS)—and several pharmacists were promoted into these new roles based on their training, experience, and interest. In addition to improved career satisfaction, the restructure significantly increased staff’s involvement with activities, such as discharge medication reconciliation, patient and provider education, transition of care, double clinical verification of chemotherapy and biotherapy orders, involvement with clinical pathway development, and oral chemotherapy management.  The number of clinical and safety interventions reported by the pharmacy staff increased significantly. From an operations perspective, the restructure improved efficiencies by consolidating activities and leveraging technology, freeing staff to focus on more meaningful activities.

12:10 – 12:40 PM
Creating an Intentional Staff Support Program to Improve Well-Being
Billie J. Baldwin, MA, MSW, LCSW-C, Manager Oncology Support Services Program, Medstar Franklin Square Medical Center, The Harry and Jeanette Weinberg Cancer Institute

This Regional Staff Support Program Initiative is a multi-factorial program developed by oncology social workers in conjunction with executive-level administration. The program includes interventions and employee education grounded in management, leadership, social work, and psychology theory and is organized around three main pillars: the Nursing Self-Care Series; Intentional Rounding; and a Network-Wide Team-Building Initiative. Other program components include a serenity room, staff support groups, mental health check-ins, and an Associate Involvement Committee that addresses employee recognition and communication. This committee facilitates monthly employee celebrations, encourages peer-to-peer recognition, job shadowing, and communication among associates, and produces a comprehensive quarterly associate newsletter. Support services for staff continue to expand at management’s request. Providers and associates have given positive feedback about this program and regularly attend and participate in events. Staff support groups, while optional, are typically attended by about 80% of staff in the targeted area.

Mini Z Burnout Survey Results 2019 to Now: How Have We Changed?
Barbara Schmidtman, PhD, MAOL, CNMT, Executive Director, Cancer Health, Spectrum Health West Michigan

Since the pandemic, the idea of burnout has turned into an expectation in our daily lives. The effects of this exhaustion have driven many healthcare professionals to rethink both their professional work and personal lives. This session will evaluate the change in magnitude of stress, burnout, and job satisfaction experienced by ACCC members as measured by the Mini Z Survey in 2019 compared to 2022 results. After reviewing the data collected and opportunities for improvement, the session will focus on practical solutions to move forward, highlighting strategies for how cancer programs and practices might start to tackle and mitigate burnout among their cancer care teams.

12:40 – 1:30 PM
Lunch in the Exhibit Hall

1:30 – 4:30 PM
Workshop 1. Building Sustainable Coalitions in Your Community
Sanford E. Jeames, DHA, Adjunct Professor, Huston-Tillotson University; Co-Chair, Health Equity Outcomes Committee, American Society of Clinical Oncology; and Coordinator of Health Sciences Program, Austin Independent School District
Lailea Noel, PhD, Assistant Professor, Steve Hicks School of Social Work and Assistant Professor of Oncology and Health Social Work, Dell Medical School, The University of Texas at Austin

An interactive education and training to help members of the multidisciplinary cancer care team build sustainable and productive relationships and coalitions with community organizations. Participate in group discussions and exercises to understand how partnerships support communities’ needs and engage communities in shared ideas to improve population-based health. Learn strategies and hear from your colleagues on how these partnerships can improve the care your cancer program or practice provides to disparate patient populations, including Black, Latinx, Asian, and other people of color, LGBTQ+ community members, older Americans, and those who live in rural areas. Participants will explore issues around cultural humility, internal and system bias, empathy, building trust with communities, the importance of diverse perspectives, and the role these perspectives play in the development of goals and tasks necessary to build sustainable and productive community coalitions.

Workshop 2. Understanding Implicit Bias in Oncology
Facilitator: Health Resources in Action (HRiA)

This interactive training focuses on exploring the concept of implicit bias and how our values and experiences play a big role in how we work at our cancer programs and practices. Participants will have an opportunity to reflect on their own values and how those values affect how they perceive themselves and the world around them. This training will also provide participants with strategies to examine how they can check their assumptions to better support their staff, patients, and their broader community.

Workshop 3. Finding Joy and Improving Self-Care
Carly Caminiti, MS, Director, The 84 Movement, Health Resources in Action

This interactive training will give participants an opportunity to re-engage with their passion for why they work in oncology, and a special chance to reflect with their colleagues on working during the COVID-19 pandemic. Participants will learn from each other about strategies to tackle burnout, revive their joy in cancer care delivery, and think positively about the future. They will have time to describe their own needs, as individuals, that will ultimately help them better enjoy their work, colleagues, and workplace. The session will identify strategies to promote resiliency and individual self-care, keeping in mind the increased burden that working remotely may continue to have.

Workshop 4. The Best of Community Cancer Care

The ACCC Best of Community Cancer Care initiative is aimed to provide guidance on the translation of new clinical and operational updates into patient care strategies by promoting collaboration between community oncology clinicians and cancer program administrators. This workshop will offer opportunities for discussion with leading oncology experts on the tools and resources in specific areas of oncology management that can be used to achieve effective cancer care delivery and improve the patient experience.

Workshop 5. ACCC Alternative Payment Model Coalition: The Economics of Value-Based Care and Strategies to Bend the Cost Curve
Anne Marie F. Rainey, MSN RN CHC, Director of Quality and Value-Based Care, Clearview Cancer Institute

Cancer programs and practices are continuously considering how to maintain focus on value-based cancer care delivery. This workshop will examine how to screen for and capture social determinants of health (SDOH) to risk-stratify patients and examine the economics and oncology use cases of remote patient monitoring (RPM,) including how to diversify revenue streams through proper billing and coding. Participants will explore how cancer programs and practices are preparing for the Oncology Care Model’s successor, the Enhancing Oncology Model (EOM).

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