New Interactive 80% in Every Community Strategic Plan

In March 2020, the NCCRT launched the 80% in Every Community Strategic Plan. This shared strategic plan provides a focused, action-oriented roadmap for stakeholders, collaborators, and cross-sectored partners in their efforts to increase colorectal cancer screening rates. The plan offers a variety of recommended activities that any stakeholder can use to help define, prioritize, and accomplish their goals.

As we begin looking ahead to the 2021 80% in Every Community Conference & NCCRT Annual Meeting and as we aim to reignite the momentum of the 80% campaign, we are thrilled to be sharing our new interactive 80% in Every Community Strategic Plan!

The interactive version features all the content from the original plan, but further connects each focus area with resources from the NCCRT Resource Center as well as case studies from the NCCRT 80% Blog and past 80% in Every Community National Achievement Award winners. We hope you find this new tool easy to navigate, shareable, and valuable to your future planning efforts.

New Blog Post with the American Association of Medical Assistants, 2021 80% In Every Community National Achievement Award Honoree

Don’t miss the latest post on the 80% Blog featuring Donald A. Balasa, JD, MBA and Nikki Hochschild, MBA, with the American Association of Medical Assistants (AAMA), 2021 80% in Every Community National Achievement Awards honoree. Learn how the AAMA partnered with the NCCRT to launch a year-long education initiative to inform and equip medical assistants to educate patients about the importance of colorectal cancer screening and to help patients overcome barriers to being appropriately screened. Congratulations again to the AAMA!

New Developments with the Proposed Addition of CRC Screening to the 2022 Medicaid Core Set

In May, the Medicaid Child and Adult Core Set Annual Review Workgroup voted unanimously to recommend adding colorectal cancer screening as a quality measure the Child and Adult Core Sets for 2022. Yesterday, the 2022 Child and Adult Core Set Annual Review Workgroup Final Report was released, another important step in the process of updating the 2022 measure set. The Center for Medicaid and CHIP Services will now review the final report and release the final 2022 Child and Adult Core Sets by December 31, 2021.

Also released yesterday, From Research to Action: Advocating For A Medicaid Colorectal Cancer Screening Quality Performance Measure, a new blog post on the Health Affairs Blog, describes the screening disparities among Medicaid-insured adults and the power of measurement to move toward addressing inequities. Congratulations to coauthor, Beverly Green, MD, MPH, NCCRT Steering Committee member, and the many individuals that have worked tirelessly to advocate for the addition of this new measure.

Registration Open: Issue Hub #2: Strengthening public health and healthcare systems to advance cancer screening and care

The American Cancer Society (ACS) National Consortium is developing bold, but sensible recommendations toward the safe and equitable recovery of cancer screening and care during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Register to participate on Thursday, September 9 from 1 to 2:30 PM ET as leading clinicians and researchers discuss vulnerabilities within our nation’s public health and healthcare systems that contributed to the decrease in cancer screening and care during the pandemic as well as the further exacerbation of inequities. Panelists will also explore and showcase concrete action steps that can be taken to build resilience in our public health and healthcare systems. These tangible solutions will not only prepare us for any ongoing or future disruptions to the delivery of cancer screening, diagnostics, and care, but will also aid in appropriately addressing persistent disparities. This webcast is free to attend and open to all.

Discussion objectives for the Issue Hub include:

• Understand where there are weaknesses and/or vulnerabilities in the US healthcare system that worsened outcomes in cancer screening and care during the COVID-19 pandemic.
• Identify steps for strengthening our healthcare systems to be better prepared and equipped to address future disruptions (e.g. pandemics, natural disasters, etc.).

Learn how some systems have successfully navigated cancer screening and care during the pandemic and improved outcomes.