Accountability for Cancer Care through Undoing Racism and Equity (ACCURE)
Project Title
Accountability for Cancer Care through Undoing Racism and Equity (ACCURE)
Funding Dates
2012-2018
Description
The Greensboro Health Disparities Collaborative and two cancer centers joined together to identify structures built into cancer care systems that make cancer care vulnerable to institutional racism and to investigate how they can be changed to reduce racial inequity in the quality and completion of treatment for early stage breast and lung cancer patients. ACCURE, a systems enhancement intervention, includes the following components: (1) an ACCURE Navigator provides two-way communication for hearing and responding to patients at both cancer centers, with the use of an Electronic Medical Record Technology Tool (the “Real-time Registry”) and evidence-based patient education and follow-up protocols, (2) Healthcare Equity Training and booster sessions for providers on contributing factors of racial inequities, and (3) Quarterly Clinical Performance Reports to clinicians and their teams on race-specific, quality-of-care data for their patients and suggestions for improving care. The intervention markedly reduced disparities in treatment completion for early stage lung and breast cancer patients and improved care for all. Further analyses on the impact of the navigator on areas such as patient trust are being performed.
Research Areas
Cancer Prevention and Control
Health Equity
Principal Investigator
Eugenia Eng, PhD and Sam Cykert, MD
Funding
National Cancer Institute