Definition

Comprehensive Cancer Control (CCC) is an integrated and coordinated approach to reducing cancer incidence, morbidity, and mortality among all citizens through prevention, early detection, treatment, rehabilitation, and palliation.

Source: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

Purpose

The need for national comprehensive cancer prevention and control has been identified for the following reasons: 

• heavy and unequal cancer burden in the US,
• inadequate infrastructure to optimally carry out cancer prevention and control,
• limited funding resources and a lack of support at the government level,
• data is underutilized in decision making and planning, and
• ack of coordination of cancer control efforts. 

Benefit

There are several benefits to pooling state resources and collaborating on statewide activities. These include, but are not limited to:

• changing systems and policies
• identifying issues that can be addressed collaboratively
• creating state and community systems of cancer organizations to develop and implement plans
• reducing variance in cancer control efforts among different institutions/organizations
• involving a large number and the power of stakeholders
• developing state and community leadership
• optimizing the use of resources
• reducing the duplication of efforts
• enabling multi-level, simultaneous and complementary interventions

CoC Role

The CoC has played an integral part in comprehensive cancer control since 1995 and our constituents are becoming more intimately involved with their state cancer plans. As many of the states begin implementing their plans, we are relying more on the involvement of our Cancer Liaison Physicians to facilitate activity at the local level. 

Cancer Liaison Physician Role

Cancer Liaison Physicians (CLPs) play a unique role in comprehensive cancer control, as they provide a link to the local level through partnership with community groups such as the American Cancer Society. Your role in comprehensive cancer control is to provide clinical expertise to the implementation activities of the state cancer plan. As the CoC representative at your facility, you can promulgate cancer control activities within the facility and around the surrounding community. 

CLPs should collaborate with local agencies and implement activities identified in the plan at the local level. Activities implemented should compliment those activities of interest to the facility and the community.  CLPs bring expertise across the cancer care continuum including prevention, early detection, treatment, access, disparities, and rehabilitation. CLPs should be involved in all parts of the plan (workgroups) and contribute to areas outside of their primary field of expertise.

The CoC is advocating for the inclusion of objectives in the state plan that focus on increasing the number of CoC-approved programs in the state and the improvement of access and delivery of quality care to cancer patients. We ask that you help support these efforts to provide the best in cancer care at our CoC-approved programs. 

Below is a summary of the Cancer Liaison Physician’s role with comprehensive cancer control and ways to get involved:

• Become actively involved in implementation of the state cancer plan
• Assist in assessing cancer control resources and activity in the state
• Support priorities outlined in the plan
• Identify outreach projects that fit in with the plan’s activities and interests of your facility
• Collaborate with local agencies to implement state cancer plan activities
• Communicate activities of the partnership with your facility’s cancer committee

Membership

• Serve as a member of the state cancer partnership (or a designated member of the facility)
• Represent professionals and facilities that diagnose and treat cancer patients
• Serve as a member on a workgroup such as:
  • Prevention
  • Early detection
  • Treatment
  • Site-specific task forces

Developing the Plan

• Assist in identifying the "problem"
  • Issues identified should be statewide and implemented at state and community levels
• Assist in assessing cancer prevention and control resources and activity in the state
• Assist in developing outcomes for the state priorities identified CLPs may be called on to lend expertise on specific cancer issues

Implementing the Plan

• Foster relationships to expand screening and the utilization of support services, prevention and early detection programs.
• Assist in assessing infrastructure, capacity and resources to support the implementation of activities identified in the plan:
  • Identify stakeholders
  • Identify activities
  • Identify resources
• Support priorities outlined within the state cancer plan
• Identify community outreach projects that fit within the plan’s activities and interests of the facility
• Collaborate with local agencies to support state cancer plan activities

Advocating for Comprehensive Cancer Control