Contact:
Arnold L. Potosky, Ph.D.
Applied Research Program
Telephone 301-496-5662
E-Mail: potosky@nih.gov
Objective of the Project:
The objectives of this initiative are to:
1) enhance monitoring and understanding of the processes of cancer care and patient-centered factors influencing prognosis in population-based cohorts of lung and colorectal cancer patients; 2) establish a system for examining the relationship of the processes of care to clinical and patient-centered outcomes, with emphasis on measuring the dissemination of state-of-the-science interventions and their association with better quality outcomes in the general population of cancer patients; and, 3) examine disparities in the receipt of state-of-the-science cancer care and factors that contribute to disparities in outcomes and identify ways to lessen those disparities.
This will complement the NCI’s Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) Program and other population-based cancer registries and build the information base needed for measuring and improving the quality of cancer care in the US.
Description of the Project:
Support will be provided to conduct large, prospective cohort studies of patients with newly diagnosed lung or colorectal cancer. A new infrastructure will be formed to support between 5-6 research teams for each site, though research teams may participate in multiple cancer sites. Each research team will collect data within large, well-defined populations and provide core data to a central statistical coordinating center (SCC) to ensure standardization and enable pooled analyses. The participation of high-quality population-based cancer registries is particularly encouraged. Core data on processes and outcomes of care for all enrolled patients will be collected by all participating institutions using multiple sources (inpatient and outpatient medical records, patient surveys, administrative data). In addition to core data and primary research objectives, research proposals will be invited to conduct studies in selected samples of patients to focus on specific questions complementing the core study.