Increasing Access to Cancer Care in Rural Montana
Through research, education and promotion of the highest-quality patient care, the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO)/Conquer Cancer®, The ASCO Foundation works to make a difference in cancer care and create a world where cancer is prevented or cured, and every survivor is healthy. It is supported by its foundation, Conquer Cancer®, which received funding from the Alliance to address geographic barriers for populations living in remote areas. ASCO's collaboration with Bozeman Health Deaconess Hospital Cancer Center, Barrett Hospital & HealthCare and Montana State University Mark and Robyn Jones College of Nursing will use a hub-and-spoke care delivery model, where partnering sites serve as the primary point of contact for residents across Montana and are trained in cancer care delivery for rural settings.
Nearly 75% of Montana residents live in areas classified as rural or frontier, with less than 50 oncologists serving a population of approximately 1.2 million. Travel distance can cause additional health care challenges and has been associated with worse outcomes for cancer patients. Additional barriers to care in rural settings include:
- Shortage or absence of specialty care providers and/or oncology-focused staff
- Increased financial burden due to travel and lodging costs
- Limited access to and/or use of telemedicine services
ASCO is increasing access to cancer care in rural communities through capacity and relationship building. To improve overall quality of care, the program will build on lessons learned and ASCO’s expertise in research, education and quality. Strategies include:
Hub-and-Spoke Model of Care Delivery
- Leverage existing relationship between Bozeman Health Deaconess Hospital Cancer Center (hub) and Barrett Hospital & HealthCare (spoke)
- Expand infusion suite infrastructure at Barrett Hospital & HealthCare
- Recruit and train Advanced Practice Providers
Quality Assessment & Improvement
- Implement ASCO’s quality standards, guidelines and educational resources
- Create expert advisory group to help with standard operating procedures and quality improvement
- Utilize expertise of Montana State University (MSU) College of Nursing faculty to identify opportunities for enhancement
Collaboration & Partnership
- Enhance local services through collaborations with community-based organizations
- Strengthen referral loop with local primary care providers
- Leverage the pipeline from the MSU College of Nursing to grow the trained cadre of nurses able to support cancer care delivery
ASCO will measure the effectiveness of its interventions across staff capacity, care activities and financial impact at partnering sites as well as patient reported outcomes. In addition, the NPO will plan and implement a comprehensive cross-site program evaluation using core data elements, harmonized metrics and overall collected data. This will be used to inform future efforts and measure the impact of the initiative across grantee sites while identifying and promoting best practices.
Program Director
Janette Merrill, MS, CHES
Senior Director, Policy Programs
The American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO)
janette.merrill@asco.org