NCI's Department of Defense Agreement

An innovative 1996 agreement between NCI and the Department of Defense (DoD) has given thousands of DoD cancer patients more options for care and greater access to state-of-the-art treatments. Patients who are beneficiaries of TRICARE/CHAMPUS, the DoD's health program, are covered for NCI-sponsored phase II and phase III clinical treatment trials. NCI and DoD are refining a system that allows physicians and patients to determine quickly what current trials meet their needs and where they are taking place.

See the VA/DoD Beneficiaries Digest Page for additional information.

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NCI's Department of Veterans Affairs Agreement

A 1997 agreement with the Department of Veterans Affairs provides coverage for eligible veterans of the armed services to participate in NCI-sponsored prevention, diagnosis, and treatment studies nationwide.

• http://www.va.gov/cancer.htm

See the VA/DoD Beneficiaries Digest Page for additional information.

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Other Developments

• Midwest Health Plans Agreement:
  Some NCI Cooperative Groups have reached agreements with several insurers in Wisconsin and Minnesota to provide more than 200,000 people there with coverage for patient care costs if they participate in a cooperative group-sponsored trial.

• Pediatric Cancer Care Network:
  This network, a cooperative agreement among the Children's Cancer Group, the Pediatric Oncology Group, and the Blue Cross Blue Shield System Association (BCBS) nationwide, will ensure that children of BCBS subscribers receive care at designated centers of cancer care excellence and may promote the enrollment of children in Cooperative Group clinical trials.