ACS-Led Initiative helped restore COVID-19 Cancer Screening Deficits

The national Return-to-Screening effort initiated by the American College of Surgeons (ACS) Cancer Programs helped restore cancer screenings to pre-pandemic levels and contributed to a significant number of additional screening tests, according to new research published in JAMA Network Open.

Final data from the national quality improvement (QI) project, consisting of 786 accredited cancer programs across the US, reveal cancer screenings were able to quickly resume despite the ongoing challenges presented by the COVID-19 pandemic. Most cancer programs (79%) that were enrolled in the QI project successfully restored screening rates to pre-pandemic volumes and achieved a minimum of 10% growth in screening.