ACCC Releases New Resources to Support Quality Care Delivery for Patients with Ovarian Cancer

Washington, DC — The Association of Community Cancer Centers (ACCC) is pleased to announce a new suite of quality-directed resources for cancer programs, providers, and other stakeholders engaged in caring for patients with ovarian cancer. Through the Barriers to Quality Care in Ovarian Cancer, a collaborative, multi-year, expert-led initiative, ACCC has developed actionable resources for improvement in the delivery of comprehensive, quality ovarian cancer care, including process-focused recommendations. With the release of these materials, ACCC brings together evidence-informed guidance on best practice in ovarian cancer care delivery; identifies quality-focused program components and implementation barriers; and describes approaches for overcoming these barriers across the care trajectory. These practical resources support providers in identifying gaps in quality care delivery for ovarian cancer, learning from peer quality improvement experiences, and benchmarking progress toward optimal care for this patient population.

“Despite advances in the treatment of ovarian cancer over recent years, the quality of care varies across geographic locations and hospital settings,” said Premal Thaker, MD, Gynecologic Oncologist, Professor of OB/GYN at Siteman Cancer Center at Barnes-Jewish Hospital and Washington University School of Medicine. “Identified areas of need include improved access to genetic counseling and testing, clinical trials, and multi-disciplinary team care.”

A review article developed for this initiative, Improving the Quality of care for patients with advanced epithelial ovarian cancer: Program components, implementation barriers, and recommendations, published in Cancer (November 2021) addresses core components of quality ovarian cancer care, including care coordination and patient education, prevention and screening, diagnosis and initial management, treatment planning, disease surveillance, equity in care, and quality of life. The article describes real-world implementation challenges and system-level recommendations for resolving these. Key overarching recommendations include:

• Ensuring that health systems’ organizational support for all clinical cancer care, including navigation and advocacy, extends to all disease sites
• Centralizing medical expertise within health systems and regions
• Providing opportunities for expedited care with consideration of a new ovarian cancer diagnosis as an urgent diagnosis with flexibility within the system to add on consultation, surgery, chemotherapy, and formal processes for urgent referrals
• Determining the appropriate use and timing of guideline-concordant biomarker testing in order to optimize the diagnosis and treatment of patients with ovarian cancer

Advances in understanding the molecular biology driving ovarian cancers has led to increased knowledge of the role of genetic mutations in both risk of ovarian cancer and characterization of disease subtypes. Genetic testing identifies biomarkers, helps guide treatment planning, and identifies family members at high risk who may benefit from prevention strategies. Yet, as identified through the ACCC initiative, care delivery barriers—ranging from insufficient access to genetic counseling and specialists in gynecologic cancers to fragmentation in healthcare systems—often impede consistent widespread integration into ovarian cancer care delivery.

The complexities of treating ovarian cancer require a coordinated multi-disciplinary team approach to optimally address all aspects of care. To realize the benefits of personalized medicine, greater access to genetic counseling and testing is needed, as well as increased access to and enrollment in clinical trials.

Ovarian cancer is the fifth leading cause of cancer death in U.S. women. In 2022, an estimated 19,880 individuals in the U.S. will be diagnosed with ovarian cancer, and 12,810 will die from the disease. Unfortunately, ovarian cancer is usually diagnosed at advanced stage disease. Individuals diagnosed with advanced epithelial ovarian cancer, which accounts for 85-90 percent of malignant ovarian cancers—have a five-year overall survival rate of less than 50 percent.