Contact:

Joan Warren, Ph.D.
Applied Research Program
National Cancer Institute
Executive Plaza North, Room 4004
Bethesda, MD 20892
Telephone: (301) 496-5184
Fax: (301) 435-3710
Email: joan_warren@nih.gov

Objective of Project:

The goal of this program announcement is to solicit projects that use health-based claims, such as the SEER-Medicare data, for cancer surveillance. Cancer surveillance includes assessment of patterns of care, quality and outcomes of care and health disparities across the continuum of treatment. Projects sought under this initiative may focus on treatment and outcomes at the patient-specific level or include influences from the provider or broader health-system level. In addition to studies of cancer treatment and outcomes, responses to this PA may also initiate analyses to expand understanding of the capability of and methods needed to use claims data for cancer surveillance.

Description of Project:

This initiative supports research directed at the use of health claims data for cancer surveillance, including studies of cancer detection, treatment, and outcomes. In addition, this initiative is directed towards studies that assess the utility of claims data for cancer surveillance.

Examples of research topics that would be relevant to the studies of detection, treatment and outcomes include but are not limited to:

1. Studies of the patterns of cancer for persons with specific cancers/stages. This might include treatment during the peri-diagnostic period, use of adjuvant treatments, as well as long-term follow-up.

2. Disparities in the receipt in cancer care based on demographic and socio-economic characteristics.

3. Determinants of the quality of care across the cancer continuum, e.g. training and volume of health care providers.

4. Use of screening tests among the general population and rates of post-diagnostic surveillance for persons with cancer.

5. Intensity and types of services provided at the end of life.

Examples of research topics that would be relevant to assessing the utility of claims data for surveillance include but are not limited to:

1. Use of claims data to assess the frequency and intensity of diagnostic tests.

2. Methods to identify recurrences or metastases from claims data.

3. Assessment of the availability and completeness of encounter data from managed care settings.

4. Use of claims data to measure adjuvant therapies.

5. Methods to measure comorbidity.

The use of claims data to assess population-based cancer incidence and survival rates has been assessed in numerous earlier studies and is not a priority of this initiative.