With the year-end holidays fast approaching, 2022 will soon be in our rearview mirror. The American College of Surgeons (ACS) Cancer Programs is already moving forward with exciting plans for the products, services, and projects we will provide to accredited cancer programs and constituents in 2023. Here is a preview of what you can expect in the year ahead.
CoC’s Standards Manual Will Incorporate Updates to Pathology Report Accreditation Requirements: The Commission on Cancer’s standards manual, Optimal Resources for Cancer Care (2020 Standards), will be updated with substantive changes to Standard 5.1: College of American Pathologists (CAP) Synoptic Reporting. The on-site review of pathology reports for CAP compliance during the site visit will be removed and replaced with a requirement to perform an internal audit of pathology reports to evaluate whether the report includes all required elements and is in synoptic format. Additionally, Standard 3.2: Evaluation and Treatment Services will be revised to require accreditation for anatomic pathology by a recognized organization. The revised standards, along with the implementation timeline, will be released in early 2023.
New STORE 2023 Data Items Effective January 1: The Standards for Oncology Registry Entry (STORE v2023) Manual, effective for cases diagnosed January 1, 2023, was released on October 7, 2022. The manual can be found on the National Cancer Database (NCDB) Call for Data webpage located under Registry Manuals (https://www.facs.org/quality-programs/cancer-programs/national-cancer-database/ncdb-call-for-data/). Refer to the chapter “STORE 2023 Summary of Changes” on page 29 for a description of changes in this year’s STORE. Additional communication and detail will follow.
Be a Part of a 2023 National Quality Improvement Project: ACS Cancer Programs is excited to announce two new quality improvement initiatives set to launch in early 2023:
- Beyond ASK is a quality improvement project that will help any cancer program learn skills and implement local process improvement strategies to get more cancer patients referred to effective tobacco treatment.
- The Breaking Barriers project is designed to help programs understand and address patients’ barriers to cancer care. The project will use local data to drive change in programs and share innovations across a national audience.
More information on these initiatives, including important details and deadlines, will be coming soon.
NAPBC to Incorporate Feedback, Provide Resources, and Educate on New Accreditation Standards: The National Accreditation Program for Breast Centers (NAPBC) will be pilot testing its recently-released revised accreditation standards. Based on program feedback and results of the pilot site visits, an updated version of Optimal Resources for Breast Care (2024 Standards) will be released in fall 2023 and ready for implementation on January 1, 2024. Education and resources to help implement the standards will be released throughout 2023.
New Cancer Surgery Protocols Coming in 2022 and 2023: The Cancer Surgery Standards Program (CSSP) will publish new cancer surgery protocols for Kindle and print on demand on the Amazon website. These protocols provide guidance on the collection of essential data and key aspects of cancer surgery via the operative report and can serve as a useful educational tool for surgeons in training. Protocols for melanoma and breast and colon cancers will be published in late 2022. Protocols for thyroid, pancreatic, lung, gastric, and adrenal cancers will be published in 2023. Publication details will be released via Cancer Programs News when available.
2023 Webinars to Address Informational and Educational Content: The ACS Cancer Programs education leaders are planning to release a webinar series in 2023 that will address both informational and educational topics of interest to a wide range of Cancer Programs constituents. The educational webinars will address content beyond the topics covered at the in-person conference and offer relevant continuing education credits. Watch Cancer Programs News for more information on the content and webinar schedule.
New AJCC Staging Protocols Published Online, More to Come in 2023: Three new 9th Version American Joint Committee on Cancer (AJCC) protocols on anal, appendiceal, and brain cancer have now been published for Kindle and print on demand on the Amazon website. Each protocol provides comprehensive staging information, including site-specific staging rules, diagnostic-staging and pathologic-staging tables, and survival curves demonstrating prognosis and the evidence in support of each stage group. The standardized format and clear illustrations and tables make the protocols a quick reference to help with staging. Six new neuroendocrine, lung, and vulva protocols are expected to be released in 2023.
Cancer Research Program to Release Survivorship Services Survey: The ACS Cancer Research Program (CRP) will release a survey in 2023 to learn about the prevalence and types of services offered by survivorship programs at CoC-accredited cancer programs. Details on how to participate will be shared via Cancer Programs News in the coming months.
CSSP Hosts Technical Standards for Pancreatic Cancer Surgery Webinar: The CSSP will host a webinar in early 2023 on Technical Standards for Pancreatic Cancer Surgery (Pancreatoduodenectomy). A panel of experts will discuss evidence-based operative standards for the performance of pancreatoduodenectomy as outlined in the Operative Standards for Cancer Surgery manual. Information will be available via Cancer Programs News.
Programs May Apply for CoC’s Secondary Pediatric Accreditation in Mid-2023: The application for the CoC’s new secondary pediatric cancer program accreditation will be launched within the Quality Portal (QPort) during the third quarter of 2023. At that time, programs will be able to apply for a 2024 site visit.
Quality Measures 2023—What You Need to Know: Quality measures have played a vital role in assessing program performance according to best cancer practices. These measures are continuously reviewed to ensure they are up-to-date. With that in mind, beginning in January 2023, the breast hormone, post-mastectomy radiation, needle biopsy, and lung surgery measures will be retired from the Rapid Cancer Reporting System (RCRS),. Clinical updates to existing breast radiation and chemotherapy measures, as well as the lung chemotherapy, rectal radiation and chemotherapy, and gastric node measures, will be announced in January 2023 in Cancer Programs News. Revised measures will be available in the second quarter of 2023.
Changes to Completeness Report in 2023: The National Cancer Database is finalizing plans to transition the Completeness and Default Overuse Report, currently found in QPort and updated annually, into a new home on the RCRS platform. The new report will be populated in a more real-time manner and with newer data, while also being slightly streamlined to focus on fewer, higher value data items. More details regarding the timing of this release will be communicated in 2023.
