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Rockville, MD – The Association of Community Cancer Centers (ACCC) today announced a new e-course, Implementing Shared Decision-Making in Bladder Cancer Care, as part of its resources for cancer care centers to access evidence-based health literacy principles and shared decision-making strategies to reduce disparities in bladder cancer care.
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Rockville, MD — The Association of Cancer Care Centers (ACCC) today announced a new e-course, Implementing Shared Decision-Making in Bladder Cancer Care, as part of its resources for cancer care centers to access evidence-based health literacy principles and shared decision-making strategies to reduce disparities in bladder cancer care.
ACCC and its partners, Bladder Cancer Advocacy Network (BCAN) and CancerCare, are providing free tools in multiple formats for providers to use for the implementation of changes in their programs and communities, including the interactive e-course and podcast, available now.
Bladder cancer cases continue to rise regardless of treatment advances, and it is the most expensive cancer to treat. In 2022, bladder cancer was the sixth most common cancer diagnosed among Americans, with 81,000 new cases and 17,000 deaths. In 2021, ACCC conducted a Bladder Cancer Economic Study which found significant treatment disparities among Asian, Hispanic, North American Native, and Black patients, when compared to White patients, with early- and late-stage bladder cancer.
The Bladder Cancer Economic Study found:
● Major gaps in guideline-concordant care for all bladder cancer patients, particularly for those already facing disparities.
● Significantly longer time to treatment for Asian, Hispanic, Native American, and Black patients.
● Patients diagnosed with late-stage bladder cancer pay more for care than those diagnosed at an earlier stage, as they require more resource-intensive services.
As a result of the study, ACCC developed its first
Quality Improvement (QI) initiative to address disparities in bladder cancer care
. Through the program, cancer centers can apply to host a Bladder Cancer Care Quality Improvement Workshop at their facility, where they will be able to identify barriers to equitable care for people with bladder cancer and find solutions to address gaps in care. Providence St. Jude Medical Center in Fullerton, California, will host the first workshop this week.
“As members of the care team, urologists drive the care of patients with bladder cancer. By examining our own internal data and engaging our teams in discussion, we can understand where problems exist or how best to address them,” said Samuel L. Washington III, MD, MAS, Program Faculty of ACCC Addressing Disparities in Bladder Cancer Care QI Program. “This QI program offers leadership opportunities to drive the improvement of bladder cancer care within our own sphere of influence.”
ACCC will continue to expand its offerings to the resource center and will introduce new tools for cancer care programs. Addressing Disparities in Bladder Cancer Care is supported by funding from EMD Serono Inc. and Pfizer.