A Focus on Community Oncology Research

J Clin Pathways. 2022;8(3):24-25.

In 2021, the Association of Community Cancer Centers (ACCC) established the ACCC Community Oncology Research Institute (ACORI) to build on its existing mission to close the gap in cancer research through optimal oncology partnerships. ACORI works to establish clinical trials as a standard of care in treatment plans and to help achieve equitable cancer care delivery for all patients.

The Institute evolved from ACCC’s year-long examination of equity and access to clinical trials in the community under the direction of its Immediate Past President Randall A. Oyer, MD, who will lead a Task Force of recognized multidisciplinary cancer team professionals and focus on three key domains: equity, capacity building, and research diffusion. Through ACCC’s robust network of partnerships, ACORI will enable community oncology programs and their multidisciplinary teams to access the tools, knowledge sharing, effective practices, and peer mentorships to increase their ability to offer trials to patients.

To help establish a standardized understanding across cancer care team members, ACORI developed a digital glossary of clinical research terms, which can also serve as a tool to improve patient education and encourage shared decision-making conversations. Access this resource online at acori-glossary.accc-cancer.org. 

Last fall, ACCC hosted the ACORI Call to Action Summit: Activating Equity in Community Oncology Research—in collaboration with Stand Up to Cancer—to identify concrete strategies for engaging patients, caregivers, and their communities to strengthen oncology research. 

More than 120 people from 60 organizations generated 200+ ideas for action items to make cancer care research more diverse, equitable, and accessible. The Summit is available on-demand. Register at accc-cancer.org/acori-summit to hear discussions that focused around: 

• The importance of expanding access to clinical trials for patients of all background—to ensure the highest quality care.
• Strategies for engaging patients and their caregivers in shared decision-making around trial enrollment.
• Case studies to demonstrate solutions for optimizing accrual and overcoming barriers to trial participation.
• Tools and resources to support care teams, including budget forms, instituional review board templates, etc. 
• How to incorporate the patient perspective into trial design: insights for trial sponsors.

ACCC also released an Executive Summary of the ACORI Call to Action Summit, which identified specific action items for ACCC, oncology programs and practices, and industry. Below is an overview of the five action items for ACCC.

1. Ensure that patient experiences and perspectives are embedded in all phases of research at oncology programs and practices, by collecting and sharing patient experiences and identified needs. Hardwire the inclusion of patients into ACORI and ACCC’s work through formalized roles within the organizations’ structure.

2. Strengthen connections between oncology programs and practices and relevant stakeholder organizations by convening all pertinent parties, creating mentorship and networking opportunities, and hosting working sessions to share best practices, to build capacity and formalize the process of incorporating patient and caregiver feedback into research. Advocate to other stakeholders on the needs of oncology programs and practices doing research.

3. Engage oncology programs and practices, community organizations, academic institutions, patient advocacy organizations, and industry sponsors on the importance of patient and community involvement in research. Strategies might include clarifying the process, timing, and roles of each stakeholder; creating online platforms for collaboration for patient and community engagement; building matching programs between researchers and community cancer programs and research staff; and maintaining or contributing to repositories of community organizations for partnership and oncology programs and practices that are ready to conduct research.

4. Develop and actively share—in partnership with stakeholders—tools and resources that oncology programs and practices can use to more effectively incorporate the patient and community perspectives into their work. High-value resources include tools for patient and community engagement, conducting high-quality needs assessments, finding and implementing research opportunities, case studies of best practices for community-based cancer research studies, and making the case to their own leadership on the importance of research in the community cancer setting.

5. Advocate for more diversity and representation in clinical trials consistent with the burden of cancer, through engagement with state and federal governments on topics like funding for implementation of research in community oncology, prioritization of research projects, and the need for flexible telehealth for research, and with industry sponsors to co-develop targets and support partnerships with diversity in mind.

Read the full list of prioritized action items online at accc-cancer.org/ACORI-Summit.org. Taken together, these action items provide a foundation for a comprehensive plan to create systemic change in community oncology research.