NCI Community Cancer Centers Program

Our expert explains how this enhances cancer care at Lehigh Valley Health Network

About Our Expert

Gregory Harper, M.D., PhD, is a medical oncologist and physician director, NCI Community Cancer Centers Program for Lehigh Valley Health Network.

• I've read that Lehigh Valley Health Network is a site of the National Cancer Institute Community Cancer Centers Program (NCCCP). What is that?
• What does this mean for cancer patients and their families in the Lehigh Valley region?
• How will this enhance the quality of cancer care?
• How will this improve access to leading-edge research?
• How will this improve outreach and access to cancer care?

Q: I've read that Lehigh Valley Health Network is a site of the National Cancer Institute Community Cancer Centers Program (NCCCP). What is that?

A: It is both an award and an opportunity. The health network's Cancer Center is one of only 30 sites nationwide selected by the National Cancer Institute (NCI), part of the National Institutes of Health, to participate in the NCI Community Cancer Centers Program, and the only cancer center in our region to receive the award. The NCI recognizes that 85 percent of cancer care nationwide is delivered at community cancer programs like the health network's. This award also represents opportunities for both the health network and our community.

Q: What does this mean for cancer patients and their families in the Lehigh Valley region?

A: Patients and families currently enjoy access to comprehensive cancer services in the health network, including cancer prevention, genetic counseling and testing, plus screening, consultation, treatment and survivorship. The NCCCP award encourages the development of multidisciplinary consultation programs. This is where patients can be evaluated in a single visit by the cancer specialists who will care for them, and where the patient and family meet a navigator who will coordinate the patient's treatment plan. New research partnerships will increase access to cancer clinical trials in the health network. In addition, NCCCP will fund community health care workers, clinicians and other support staff to improve access to cancer care by underserved populations in our community.

Q: How will this enhance the quality of cancer care?

A: The primary enhancement in quality will be in the development of more multidisciplinary consultation services. Cancer care demands teamwork. Few cancers can be treated or managed by a single specialist. Because medical, surgical and radiation oncologists often are involved in cancer treatment, a patient and family usually have to make multiple appointments with several physicians in different offices. The multidisciplinary consultation brings these specialists together with a nurse navigator, the patient and family to develop an integrated evaluation and treatment plan in one visit. This saves time and coordinates care. The navigator helps to arrange appointments, provides education for the patient and family, coordinates access to financial counseling and transportation as needed, and acquires medical records and test results from other locations.

Q: How will this improve access to leading-edge research?

A: The Cancer Center currently offers patients access to large, national cancer clinical trials through an existing relationship with NCI. The NCCCP award encourages new partnerships with comprehensive cancer research centers that will bring new treatment trials to our patients. In partnership with the Moffitt Cancer Center (an NCI-designated comprehensive cancer research center) in Tampa Bay, Fla., we have opened a new treatment trial in colon cancer. We expect to expand our treatment protocols to include research into the genetic and molecular determinants of treatment outcomes. Learning about the genetic vulnerabilities of an individual patient's cancer will aid in choosing the best treatment for that cancer.

Q: How will this improve outreach and access to cancer care?

A: The health network is dedicated to providing high-quality, culturally appropriate care to everyone in our community. With NCCCP funding, we will develop a new model for access to cancer care in Allentown - the Neighborhood Cancer Center. This will provide faster access to evaluation of new or suspected cancers for patients and families served by our medical practices at Lehigh Valley Hospital-17th Street. The Neighborhood Cancer Center will employ promotoras (community health care workers) to reach out to Latino individuals in the community for cancer education, prevention, screening, evaluation and treatment. Promotoras currently expedite access to Breast Health Services at Lehigh Valley Hosptial-17th Street for mammography. A multidisciplinary, bicultural and bilingual consultation service will be available for women with suspected or diagnosed breast cancer, and for persons with other suspected or diagnosed cancers. Bilingual navigators will facilitate access to treatment services in the John and Dorothy Morgan Cancer Center at Lehigh Valley Hospital-Cedar Crest, and will assist in continuing care follow-up at the Cancer Center, the survivorship program and in the patient's primary care medical home at Lehigh Valley Hospital-17th Street.

This page last updated 11/5/10 02:36 PM