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Patterns of Care/Quality of Care:
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Uses of POC/QOC data
Cancer is increasingly diagnosed and treated in the outpatient setting. Patterns of
Care studies provide important information on the receipt of cancer therapies that are not
well documented in hospital records. Data on hormonal therapy and chemotherapy, especially, are
not well documented. Data gathered through the POC studies are used in a number of ways. For example, the
data help investigators examine disparities in cancer treatment among age, racial/ethnic
groups, and urban/rural residents.
Using POC study data, SEER "Stat Chats" help explain other SEER
data on incidence and mortality. Stat Chats are seminars presented yearly to inform the
NCI director and staff about cancer incidence, treatment, and mortality.
Interventions to Improve Care
- The studies provide national population-based information on treatment dissemination
into community practice, possible determinants of dissemination, and variations in
therapy. Such information is essential to identifying potential areas for educational
programs to improve the quality of care that will be planned in collaboration with
professional societies.
- NCI has previously used the POC data to describe treatment for cancer sites and
compare these with the guidelines for care. POC findings on the dissemination of
state-of-the-art therapy into community practice have been examined and linked to
NIH
Consensus Development Conferences Statements and
NIH Clinical Alerts.
- These data have been presented to the Institute of Medicine (IOM) as a model for data
collection to be used in evaluating the quality of cancer care. POC studies also will be
used to develop future editions of NCI's Cancer Trends Progress Report; inform NCI's
programmatic "Challenges" in emerging trends, quality of care, and health disparities; and
to inform interested members of the lay, patient advocate, policy and research
communities.
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