Background
The Delaware/Christiana Care Community Clinical Oncology Program (CCOP) was originally funded by NCI in 1987. The program's community hospital affiliations include Alfred I. DuPont Hospital for Children in Wilmington, Del.; Beebe Medical Center in Lewes, Del.; Union Hospital of Cecil County in Elkton, Md.; and Cooper University Hospital/Cancer Center in Voorhees, N.J. Through this consortium, the CCOP includes medical, radiation, gynecologic, and pediatric oncologists; surgeons; urologists; and primary care physicians.

Delaware/Christiana Care CCOP participates with CALGB, Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group, National Surgical Adjuvant Breast and Bowel Project, Gynecologic Oncology Group, Radiation Therapy Oncology Group (RTOG), Fox Chase Cancer Center CCOP Research Base, University of Michigan Comprehensive Cancer Center, and Comprehensive Cancer Center of Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center. In addition, studies are opened through the Cancer Trials Support Unit if unavailable through the traditional cooperative group mechanism.

Community Characteristics
Christiana Care is the major cancer care provider for the state of Delaware, with an extensive catchment area that also includes portions of southern New Jersey, northeastern Maryland, and southeastern Pennsylvania. The CCOP represents a total population base of more than 2.5 million people through its affiliation with hospitals throughout the region, allowing patients access to the latest cancer research protocols in or near their communities.

Enrollment and Outreach
An average of 125 active clinical trials are available at any given time through the Delaware/Christiana Care CCOP, giving patients access to protocols for all disease sites. Over the past 19 years, the CCOP has enrolled over 4,200 participants to NCI-approved cooperative group clinical trials: 2,859 to treatment trials and 1,363 to cancer control trials. During 2005, Christiana Care diagnosed a total of 2,668 analytic cancer cases; of those, 19.4 percent went on to participate in a clinical trial, ranking Christiana Care as one of the highest accruing institutions in the nation.

Other Key Facts
The CCOP publishes Delaware Cancer Research News, a newsletter that is circulated to over 250 physicians and support staff. The program also publishes an investigator-friendly protocol list that is distributed in hard copy, and is available via the Internet and downloadable to PDAs. In 2004, the American Society of Clinical Oncology recognized the Delaware/Christiana Care CCOP with the Clinical Trials Participation Award for accrual to RTOG trials.

Delaware Governor Ruth Ann Minner's proposal to spend $10 million in fiscal year 2005 to treat uninsured patients and promote cancer screening awareness was approved by the legislature and enacted to improve the state's quality of cancer care. As a result, all uninsured Delaware residents - who were diagnosed with cancer on or after July 1, 2004; lack comprehensive health insurance coverage including Medicaid; and earn less than 650 percent of the federal poverty level - are now eligible to receive 2 years of cancer health care. The state of Delaware program promotes NCI clinical trial accrual and provides mammography, colonoscopy, and Pap smear coverage for all uninsured and underinsured Delawareans.