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Overview

While breast cancer is a high-profile disease, receiving significant private and public research funding and focused awareness and prevention initiatives, patients with metastatic breast cancer face unique challenges. According to the Metastatic Breast Cancer (MBC) Alliance “public messaging about the [breast cancer] ‘cure’ and survivorship is so pervasive that people diagnosed at stage IV with metastatic breast cancer can be stigmatized by the perception that they’ve failed to take care of themselves or undergo annual screening.” In addition, many metastatic breast cancer patients face a number of communication challenges, including:

A perception that their cancer is curable, driven in part by a low-level of engagement during conversations with providers
Providers who use overly vague or overly technical medical language
Providers who may “minimize” the severity of the disease, perhaps in efforts to reduce patient distress or help patients stay positive, engaged, and compliant with treatment recommendations.

Project Goal

With this education project, ACCC seeks to address these challenges. Specific project goals are to:

expand the current breast cancer conversation to address gaps between early and metastatic disease and
improve the treatment and management of metastatic breast cancer in the community setting.

For more information about this project, contact Elana Plotkin, Senior Program Manager, ACCC Provider Education.

Find Metastatic Breast Cancer Resources Fast

The new, online ACCC Metastatic Breast Cancer Resource Library connects you to curated materials (webinars, articles, blogs, and more) specific to supporting your MBC patients through specialized support tools and tailored education.

Search by topic, resource type (e.g., webinar, article, blog, tool), point of care, or by the effective practices identified in the ACCC Metastatic Breast Cancer project workbook—then share these nationally available, free resources with your patients.
Explore the Resource Library

Multidisciplinary MBC Summit: Executive Summary

Patients with metastatic breast cancer have unique needs that are not always best served by the supportive care offerings made available to other breast cancer patients. Determining the most pressing needs of this patient group, prioritizing those needs, and equitably distributing resources to meet the needs was the goal of the ACCC Metastatic Breast Cancer Summit, held October 7, 2019, in Washington, D.C.

Invitees included individuals from across the multidisciplinary cancer care team, including social workers, nurse practitioners, oncologists, chaplains, patient advocates, and financial navigators. After a day rich in discussion and interaction, the group came together to identify a series of actions that, if enacted, could significantly enhance the care of women with metastatic breast cancer.
Download Executive Summary

Multidisciplinary Team Communication in Metastatic Breast Cancer Survey Highlights

In a continued effort to improve the care of patients diagnosed with metastatic breast cancer, ACCC conducted a Multidisciplinary Team Communication in Metastatic Breast Cancer survey of over 100 care team members—representing 86 unique cancer programs—that measured progress and assessed areas for continued improvement in caring for patients with metastatic disease.
View Highlights

Effective Principles in Action

Building on principles to reframe the patient-provider conversation identified in the Metastatic Breast Cancer Workbook, Metastatic Breast Cancer: Effective Principles in Action explores how three differently structured cancer programs are creating and evolving approaches to implementing these principles.
Download Publication
ACCC thanks the following member programs for their participation:

Cowell Family Cancer Center Munson Healthcare, Traverse City, Michigan
Koontz Center for Advanced Breast Cancer, Saint Luke's Health System, Kansas City, Missouri
Providence Cancer Institute, Providence Health & Services, Portland, Oregon

Workbook & Case Studies

Metastatic Breast Cancer: Effective Principles & Practices in Patient Support includes key highlights from the project's environmental scan, a communication process map that integrates 6 effective principles into the care continuum, helping to reframe and improve the conversation between providers and patients, and examples of how ACCC Cancer Program members are putting these principles into action to delivery holistic, patient-centered care.
Download Workbook
ACCC thanks the following member programs for their participation:

Gibbs Cancer Center, Spartanburg, South Carolina
Providence Cancer Center, Portland, Oregon
Sanford Cancer Center, Fargo, South Dakota

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