Reducing Time to Surgery for Early-Stage Lung Cancer

Project Page Overview

The Reducing Time to Surgery for Early-Stage Lung Cancer National Quality Improvement Project is a national collaborative sponsored by the ACS Cancer Programs beginning January-March 2027. The project is designed to evaluate the feasibility of measuring the time from the diagnostic chest CT scan to pulmonary resection for patients with early-stage non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). By establishing a standardized approach to measuring this interval across CoC-accredited programs, participating sites will help inform future quality improvement efforts to support timely surgical care.
As a participant, you will have the opportunity to learn from national experts and peer programs from around the country and receive extensive support from CoC and ACS Cancer Programs for your local QI efforts.

The goals of this project are to:

• Evaluate the feasibility of accurately identifying and documenting the diagnostic chest CT scan date for patients with early-stage NSCLC.
• Achieve accurate documentation of the diagnostic chest scan CT scan date for more than 90% of early-stage NSCLC surgical cases.
• Develop a standardized approach to measuring the interval from the diagnostic chest CT scan to pulmonary resection across participating CoC-accredited programs.
• Assess the proportion of patients undergoing pulmonary resection within 12 weeks of the diagnostic chest CT scan.
• Identify and implement successful and sustainable solutions.