The Association of Community Cancer Centers has named five recipients of the tenth annual ACCC Innovator Awards, highlighting the year’s leading-edge strategies to challenges faced by oncology programs and practices across the country.
The eight ACCC Innovator Award winners feature programs across the multidisciplinary team in cancer care. The awards were given out at the ACCC’s 37th virtual National Oncology Conference Sept. 14-18.
Winners were selected based on the potential of their program to have a real-world impact on the delivery of cost-effective, patient-centered care with replicable solutions in the areas of care coordination and quality improvement, technology, patient engagement, innovative training and staffing models, the provision of supportive care services, and collaborative practice agreements.
The ACCC 2020 Innovator Award winners are:
Integration of Prehab, Rehab, and Prospective Surveillance into Interdisciplinary Teams; Beaumont Health System, Beaumont Cancer Institute. This program improves the patient experience, reduces hospital length of stay, and facilitates early identification of physical impairments, functional limitations, and/or treatment restrictions. Other outcomes include reduction of cancer-related fatigue, lymphedema, and falls, and non-opioid pain management.
A Nurse Navigator-Led Community-Based Cardio-Oncology Clinic; Franciscan Health Cancer Center, Indianapolis. This program manages the cardio-toxic side effects of more than 1,000 cancer patients. Working in collaboration with medical oncologists and other members of the multidisciplinary team, the cardio-oncology team helps keep oncology patients in treatment and improves patient quality of life.
Leveraging a 3D Lung Nodule Educational Tool to Reduce Patient Distress; Maine Medical Center Cancer Institute. The use of a 3D lung nodule tool as part of shared decision-making facilitated high quality communication, improves patient knowledge about malignancy risk, reduces emotional distress, and improves quality of life. A geriatric nurse practitioner partnered with an art student to design and implement the 3D model.
Reducing ED Visits and Hospital Admissions after Chemotherapy with Predictive Modeling of Risk Factors; Mercy Cancer Care, St. Louis. After conducting a retrospective review to identify clinical variables associated with increased risk of hospital admissions and emergency department visits, Mercy Cancer Care developed and implemented a predictive algorithm that stratifies patients according to their 30-day risks. A daily dashboard report identifies all patients as high, intermediate, or low risk.
Onboarding Experienced Non-Oncology Nurses to Address Staffing Shortages: Development of a Transitional Oncology Training Academy; Miami Cancer Institute. This 12-week academy gives nurses the knowledge and skills to transition to radiology, blood and marrow transplant, outpatient infusion oncology, and Phase I/II research on a Precision Medicine Unit. The academy prepares participants for the ONS/ONCC Chemotherapy Immunotherapy Certificate.
Improve Oral Oncolytic Workflow and Reduce Treatment Delays with a Pharmacist Collaborative Practice Agreement; St. Luke’s Cancer Institute. This pharmacy resident pilot project supported the creation and implementation of an oral oncolytic collaborative practice agreement that expanded pharmacist scope of practice, decreased turnaround time for processing prescriptions, improved provider satisfaction, and decreased patient prescription costs.
Utilizing Technology to Identify Patient Co-Morbidities and Reduce Hospital and ED Admissions; Tennessee Oncology. An analysis of Oncology Care Model data identified three comorbid illnesses that led to significantly higher rates of unplanned emergency department visits and hospitalizations—COPD, congestive heart failure, and diabetes mellitus. Tennessee Oncology used this data to develop targeted management algorithms that proactively address these conditions.
Shifting Chemo Administration from Inpatient to Outpatient Setting Improves Care and Reduces Costs; University of Arizona Cancer Center, Banner University Medical Center Tucson. A multidisciplinary team identified chemotherapy regimens administered in the inpatient setting that could be safely administered in the outpatient setting, and implemented a transition plan that reduced inpatient medical resources and chemotherapy costs, decreased inpatient bed stay, lower infection rates, improved quality of life, and decreased overall cost of care—conservatively estimated at almost $6 million.
