The President’s Panel at the Association of Community Cancer Centers (ACCC) 48th Annual Meeting and Cancer Center Business Summit discussed the innovative care models with demonstrable return on investment (ROI) required for the delivery of high-impact comprehensive cancer care services.

The session was chaired by ACCC 2021-2022 President Krista Nelson, MSW, LCSW, OSW-C, FAOSW, program manager of Quality & Research, Cancer Support Services and Compassion, Providence Health & Services. Participants included Al B. Benson III, MD, FACP, FASCO, Professor of Medicine, Robert H. Lurie Comprehensive Cancer Center at Northwestern Medicine; Olalekan Ajayi, PharmD, MBA, Chief Operating Officer, Highlands Oncology Group, PA; Courtney Bitz, MSW, LCSW, OSW-C, Director of Clinical Social Work and Spiritual Care, Department of Supportive Care Medicine, City of Hope; and Jennifer Bires, MSW, LCSW, OSW-C, Executive Director, Life with Cancer and Patient Experience, Inova Schar Cancer Institute.

The session provided an update from the ACCC Comprehensive Cancer Care Services Survey. This survey was designed to help explain benchmarking for and barriers to comprehensive cancer care, including lack of sufficient reimbursement, staffing, and budget.

Results from the survey were presented by Dr Benson and will soon be published. Of the 704 ACCC member programs, 204 responded and completed the survey. Of these respondents, 42% were safety-net providers and 33% were participants in the Oncology Care Model (OCM). Participants were surveyed on 27 specific services required for Comprehensive Cancer Care. Overall, 50% of respondents said 10 of these services had no billing codes and 8 had limited or underutilized billing.

“The survey responses demonstrated that programs are not getting reimbursed adequately, and in some cases cannot offer these services at all,” said Dr Benson during his presentation.

The session also contained 2 presentations on the development of 2 new ACCC tools, “Making the Business Case for Hiring an Oncology Social Worker” and “Making the Business Case for Hiring an Oncology Pharmacist.” These presentations included information on how to leverage these tools to demonstrate ROI to hospital and practice leadership to help grow and support the cancer care team, expand service line offerings, and improve the care provided to patients with cancer and their families.

Dr Ajayi presented on the business case for hiring an oncology pharmacist and discussed the expanded role of the oncology pharmacist in the cancer care team. Jennifer Bires and Courtney Bitz presented on the business case for hiring an oncology social worker, highlighting the importance of funding for social work.