Introduction

ACCC Welcomes its Newest Member:

Yale New Haven Health,

Smilow Cancer Hospital

New Haven, Connecticut

Delegate Rep: Andrea Silber

Website: ynhh.org

The Association of Cancer Care Centers (ACCC) welcomed more than 500 attendees over a 3-day span to Minneapolis, Minnesota from October 9–11 for the ACCC 41st National Oncology Conference (NOC). With a theme of Realizing Innovation, the conference featured education and resources to help participants effect positive change at their cancer programs and practices.

Attendees learned from the experiences of the 2024 ACCC Innovator Award winners, networked with colleagues on common challenges and practical solutions, and came together as a community to explore ways to better engage with their staff, patients, and key organizations to help realize the common goal of equitable cancer care for all.

The meeting included a site visit at ACCC member program, Frauenshuh Cancer Center, where the ACCC executive committee, ACCC staff, and international delegates from Egypt, Nigeria, and Sweden experienced firsthand the cancer center's non-moving patient care model. Designed using extensive input from patients and care teams, this model brings care directly to patients by creating a place where all treatments are delivered in 1 location: the privacy of the patient's treatment room.

Day 1 of the meeting opened with the ACCC Financial Advocacy Network Pre-Conference, followed immediately by a 4-hour workshop on building sustainable navigation, jointly sponsored by the American Cancer Society and the Academy of Oncology Nurse & Patient Navigators.

Day 1 ended with poster sessions in the Exhibit Hall where attendees engaged with presenters on a broad range of topics from Creation of a Centralized Medication Prior Authorization Team in a Community Cancer Center to Enhancing Cancer Care Access and Outcomes for Minority Groups Through an AI-Powered Platform.

Day 2 kicked off with the 2024 ACCC Innovator Awards. Pictured left to right: ACCC president Nadine Barrett, PhD, MA, MS, FACCC; Karl Yeager, MD, division chief of Women's Imaging and Michele Brands, network director of Women's Imaging at St. Luke's University Health Network; Stephanie Brown, RN, BSN, nurse navigator and Nina Thomas, MD, director, Thoracic Malignancy Pillar of Center for Lung and Breathing at the University of Colorado – UCHealth, University of Colorado Cancer Center; Russell Langan, MD, FACS, FSSO, associate chief surgical officer, System Integration and Quality and director of Surgical Oncology at RWJBarnabas Health, Rutgers Cancer Institute of New Jersey, Cooperman Barnabas Medical Center; Michelle Eichelmann, executive director, Oncology Services and Precision Medicine at Mercy, Mercy Oncology Services; Courtney VanHouzen, PharmD, PGY-2 oncology resident at Munson Healthcare, Cowell Family Cancer Center; Sarah Hudson-DiSalle, PharmD, RPh, FACCC, assistant director of Reimbursement Services at The Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center – Arthur G. James Cancer Hospital and Richard J. Solove Research Institute; and Meagan O'Neill, MS, ACCC executive director.

Immediately following the 2024 ACCC Innovator Awards was the keynote address from Kevin Fiori, MD, MPH, MSc, FAAP, director of the Community Health Systems Lab, associate professor of Pediatrics and Family and Social Medicine, director of Social Determinants of Health, Office of Community and Population Health at Albert Einstein College of Medicine, and the director of the Community Health Worker Institute at Montefiore Medical Center. “Health is driven by more than just health care. Socioeconomic factors make up 40% of a person's health; we need to integrate social care into medical care.” He also stressed the vital role of community health workers, “These are people who have walked in the shoes of your patients. They bring greater understanding to your health system.”

Day 2 after lunch, meeting attendees had a choice between 2 session tracks; 1 track dedicated to education around the 2024–2025 ACCC President's Theme: Reimagining Community Engagement and Equity in Cancer.

Day 3 began with ACCC's inaugural international panel. Cancer care providers representing Australia, Brazil, Egypt, Mexico, Nigeria, Puerto Rico, and Sweden came together to share and learn from common challenges and best practices. Leaning into the theme of community engagement, the panelists commented on the strategies they have implemented in their cancer programs to engage with diverse communities to deliver education on cancer prevention and treatment.

“It's about understanding your population, and not trying to put processes in place that are foreign to them and will not be accepted,” shared Nigerian delegate Dr. Elebute-Odunsi. “We must understand patients' religious backgrounds and cultural backgrounds. The only way you can bridge this gap is not through national policies made by leaders who don't truly know the community; you have to engage with people in the way they understand.” Dr. Pérez de Celis (left) built on this sentiment: “This work starts with administrators. The entire health care workforce needs to be educated on the relevance of providing care for diverse communities. Is it that these people don't have the knowledge or that we don't know the community?”

The distinguished panel was followed up by a keynote presentation from Maria Hernandez, PhD, president and COO of Impact 4 Health. A rapt audience actively participated as Dr. Hernandez shared how successful health equity initiatives transform the health care delivery landscape to deliver more safe, effective, patient-centered, and equitable care to all populations, especially underserved and marginalized communities. “When we think of improving patient care, we think of access to care, better patient engagement, better care coordination and patient navigation assistance. But we need to add culturally effective care, understanding social drivers that impact the patient, and integrating health equity as a strategy to that list,” urged Dr. Hernandez.

ACCC Celebrates 50 Years of Service at its 41st National Oncology Conference