National Cancer Institute
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Health Services & Economics Branch
Cancer Control and Population Sciences

Cancer Treatment & Outcomes

The most favorable outcomes for cancer patients can be achieved only when cancer treatments of proven efficacy are effectively delivered in the general community. The Health Services and Economics Branch monitors the dissemination of recommended cancer treatment and conducts studies that describe clinical and quality-of-life outcomes of cancer treatment in large, diverse, and representative patient populations.

  • The overall goal of the Patterns of Care/Quality of Care initiative is to evaluate the dissemination of state-of-the-art therapy into community practice, disseminate findings in scientific journals and professional meetings, and work with professional organizations to develop relevant educational or training opportunities to improve the dissemination of state-of-the-art therapy into community practice. Trends in treatment are available in NCI's Cancer Trends Progress Report.
  • We also support research to document patterns of cancer treatment and analyze determinants of these patterns using the SEER- Medicare Linked Database. SEER-Medicare studies include explorations of how individual socio-demographic and clinical characteristics affect treatment patterns as well as how healthcare provider, hospital, and broad healthcare system patterns influence treatment patterns for the most common cancers.
  • In 2001, NCI initiated the Cancer Care Outcomes Research and Surveillance Consortium (CanCORS) project. This project supports prospective cohort studies on 10,000 patients with newly diagnosed lung or colorectal cancer and is designed to increase knowledge of the relationship between cancer care practices in the general population and patient outcomes including survival and quality of life.
  • NCI initiated the Adolescent and Young Adult Health Outcomes and Patient Experience (AYA HOPE) Study to assess the impact of cancer, health-related quality of life, healthcare delivery practice patterns, demographic, socioeconomic, and supportive care characteristics among adolescents and young adults approximately 24 months after being diagnosed with cancer. AYA HOPE is the first longitudinal population-based study in the AYA oncology population in the United States.
  • The Survey of Physician Attitudes Regarding the Care of Cancer Survivors (SPARCCS) is designed to identify perceptions, knowledge, and practices of primary care oncology specialist physicians regarding post-treatment follow-up care of adult cancer survivors. Fielded in 2009, SPARCCS surveyed 1,100 primary care physicians and 1,100 oncology specialists.

Our bibliographies of publications in the areas of cancer treatment and outcomes list articles that provide detailed results from these and similar studies.


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Last modified:
20 Dec 2012
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