Health Care Systems

The Health Services and Economics Branch supports research on how healthcare system factors affect access to and effective delivery of cancer control services. We also sponsor the development of research resources that support innovative approaches to healthcare systems research.

• Population-Based Research Optimizing Screening through Personalized Regimens (PROSPR) is a program that began in 2011. Its scientific goal is to support research to better understand how to improve the screening process (recruitment, screening, diagnosis, referral for treatment) for breast, colorectal, and cervical cancer.
• The Cancer Research Network (CRN), an NCI-sponsored consortium of 14 research organizations affiliated with health maintenance organizations, supports the conduct of cancer-related health services, economics, and epidemiological research in the context of traditional health maintenance organization and network systems of healthcare delivery.
• The Survey of Colorectal Cancer Screening Policies, Programs, and Systems in U.S. Health Plans (PDF) is a nationally representative survey of health plans post-HEDIS implementation, re-fielded by the NCI between November 2005 and April 2006. The purpose of the new survey is to determine whether and to what extent health plans have adopted or changed their coverage policies and use of guidelines and tracking systems for colorectal cancer screening since the earlier survey. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is a collaborating partner in the design and analysis of the survey.
• The NCI-sponsored Cancer Care Outcomes Research and Surveillance Consortium (CanCORS) project, a prospective study of 10,000 patients with newly diagnosed lung or colorectal cancer, is studying how health system factors influence appropriate processes and favorable outcomes of care.
• We also support research on healthcare system factors by making the SEER-Medicare Linked Database available to the research community. This resource includes data elements on healthcare provider and hospital characteristics and, through linkage to other data sources, information on the broader healthcare resources of local communities.

Our bibliography of publications in the area of health care systems lists articles on studies that have examined delivery of cancer-related healthcare services by such healthcare system factors as health insurance, type of health plan, and procedure volume.