Community Oncology Alliance Releases Quality and Value Standards in Cancer Care

Standards Provide a Roadmap for Practices to Assess Their Operations, Consider Participation in Quality Certification Programs, and Have Discussions with Key Stakeholders

WASHINGTON, Sept. 10, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- The Community Oncology Alliance (COA) announced today the release of a set of Quality and Value Standards for cancer care. The Standards serve as a foundation for practices who wish to ensure the provision of high-quality care, participate in certification programs, as well as discuss and demonstrate what quality care is with patients, employers, and other payers. They were released today at COA's annual Payer Exchange Summit on Oncology Payment Reform.

Independent community oncology practices across the country are providing patients with high-quality, evidence-based, and cutting-edge cancer care that is affordable and accessible. Now, these cancer providers are being challenged to communicate and prove this commitment to patients, payers, and other stakeholders to remain competitive. This is because overall cancer spending has increased and the patient experience has deteriorated, often because of the shift in site of service from the independent provider to the hospital setting. COA developed the Quality and Value Standards with this reality in mind.

"Those who receive and pay for cancer care want to know that they are getting high-quality, personalized, evidence-based, and value-driven care," said Miriam Atkins, MD, FACP, president of COA and a practicing medical oncologist at AO Multispecialty Clinic in Augusta, Georgia. "The COA Quality and Value Standards are meant to serve as a foundational reference for practices who wish to demonstrate how they meet the highest standards in cancer care, discuss their efforts with payers, and consider participation in certification programs."

Developed with expert opinion and physician input, the COA Quality and Value Standards cover eight pillars of high-value, patient-centered cancer care and personalized support services that improve outcomes and lower the cost of cancer treatment. They include:

1. Patients and caregivers are engaged and educated as partners throughout their cancer care journey.
2. Patients have access to care teams and support outside of regularly scheduled appointments and office hours, as needed.
3. Practice provides evidence-based care, supports second opinions, and provides education on, or access to, clinical trials.
4. Practice provides closely coordinated, integrated, team-based cancer care to patients.
5. Practice is committed to constantly improving quality and ensuring patient satisfaction through ongoing efforts to track processes, monitor safety, and assess patient care.
6. Practice is committed to advanced care planning, advanced directives, and other legal documents tailored to individual patients.
7. Practice care teams are trained and credentialed in the safe administration of antineoplastic agents.
8. Practice is committed to focusing on providing high-value cancer care and lowering the cost of care and out-of-pocket expenses patients face.

Oncology practices can use the COA Quality and Value Standards as a reference to easily assess their operations and performance, and prepare for participation in national certification programs, networks, or initiatives, such as the ASCO Certified program based on the Oncology Medical Home (OMH). Each of the Standards also seek to align with existing leading national quality programs, including the Enhancing Oncology Model (EOM), the National Committee for Quality Assurance (NCQA), and the Institute for Healthcare Improvement's (IHIs) "Triple Aim" framework. The COA Quality and Value Standards are meant to provide a framework for practices to begin their quality journey and are not a formal certification or assessment program.

"'Quality' and 'value' have been buzzwords for decades in cancer care. Even with the myriad of programs designed to define and measure 'quality,' there remains a lack of alignment and consensus on what that truly means – or worse, gross misrepresentation," said Ted Okon, executive director of COA. "There is not one single 'right' program or source when it comes to defining cancer care quality and value. That is why COA developed the Standards, to help advance the spirit of quality and value in cancer care by consolidating, simplifying, and clearly communicating the core of what we believe the key pillars to be."

Faced with a variety of measures and messages from stakeholders across the health care spectrum, it can be difficult to understand what quality cancer care looks like. The Standards seek to define quality in clear, easy-to-understand terms and empower practices to both assess their performance, as well as demonstrate how they are delivering on quality and value.

The COA Quality and Value Standards are free to access for all oncology practices and stakeholders. They will be maintained by COA and reviewed by an expert panel every three years to ensure they meet evolving challenges and opportunities in cancer care.

Learn more at https://communityoncology.org/Standards.

About the Community Oncology Alliance
The Community Oncology Alliance (COA) is a non-profit organization dedicated to advocating for community oncology practices and, most importantly, the patients they serve. COA is the only organization dedicated solely to community oncology where the majority of Americans with cancer are treated. The mission of COA is to ensure that patients with cancer receive quality, affordable, and accessible cancer care in their own communities. More than 1.5 million people in the United States are diagnosed with cancer each year and deaths from the disease have been steadily declining due to earlier detection, diagnosis, and treatment. Learn more about COA at www.communityoncology.org.

SOURCE Community Oncology Alliance