Nearly Two Thousand Cancer Experts Come Together to Discuss Ways to Improve Quality, Effectiveness, and Efficiency of Care

The NCCN 23rd Annual Conference brought survivors, clinicians, specialists, investigators, nurses, patient advocates, and more to Orlando to advance cancer care worldwide.

News provided by

National Comprehensive Cancer Network

Mar 28, 2018, 10:15 ET

FORT WASHINGTON, Pa., March 28, 2018 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The NCCN 23^rd Annual Conference was held on March 22-24 in Orlando, Florida. The event was hosted by the National Comprehensive Cancer Network^® (NCCN^®), and featured multi-stakeholder representation, including survivors, cancer care providers, and patient advocates, to name a few.

"The NCCN Conference provides a rare opportunity for the many different voices in cancer care to break out of their siloes and share perspectives with one another," explained Robert W. Carlson, MD, Chief Executive Officer, NCCN. "There are so many different groups working hard to improve the lives of people with cancer, in the way they know best. At our conference, not-only are expert clinicians sharing the latest research in their specialties, they are also hearing from other stakeholders about how we can all work together to improve cancer care in the future."

This year's conference had more than 1,700 registrants, including registration for satellite symposia, a fellows program, nursing events, and others. NCCN Panelists presented several NCCN Clinical Practice Guidelines in Oncology (NCCN Guidelines^®) updates, including prostate cancer, colon & rectal cancers, multiple myeloma, melanoma, breast cancer, non-small cell lung cancer, and hepatocellular cancers. Additionally three brand new NCCN Guidelines^® were presented: Cancer in People Living with HIV, Management of Immunotherapy-Related Toxicity, and Uveal Melanoma.

The cost of cancer care was a key focus throughout the event. Keynote speakers, Ron Kline, MD, FAAP, Medical Officer, Center for Medicare & Medicaid Innovation, Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, and Lee Newcomer, MD, MHA, Former Senior Vice President, Oncology & Genetics, UnitedHealthcare presented public and private payer perspectives on how to reign in rapidly-rising prices. The issue of value and cost were also a hot topic of debate during an emerging issues roundtable on value-based healthcare models, where the two keynote speakers were joined by Travis Bray, PhD, Founder, Hereditary Colon Cancer Foundation; Randy Burkholder, Vice President of Policy and Research, PhRMA; Daniel Mirda, MD, President, Association of Norter California Oncologists; Michael Neuss, MD, Chief Medical Officer, Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center; and Bhuvana Sagar, MD, National Medical Executive, Cigna Health Care.

During a breakfast symposium on biosimilars, experts from Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center (Andrew D. Zelenetz, MD, PhD), Duke Cancer Institute (Jeffrey Crawford, MD), and the University of Tennessee Health Science Center (Lee Schwartzberg, MD, FACP) presented the latest data on how to incorporate this innovative approach into patient treatment plans. Two NCCN Guidelines panel chairs from Siteman Cancer Center at Barnes-Jewish Hospital and Washington University School of Medicine (Maria Dans, MD and Robert A. Swarm, MD) presented ways to adapt the NCCN Guidelines for Pain and Palliative Care to meet varying levels of resources.

Breakout sessions also focused on how best to continue and accelerate research in order to prolong and improve the lives of people with cancer. The NCCN Foundation announced Young Investigator Awards for four of the country's most promising new cancer investigators. Researchers presented more than 100 posters across two days. Additionally, eligible conference-goers were able to earn up to 17.25 credits for continuing education during the event.

The Patient Advocacy Pavilion included representatives from a record number of patient advocacy groups, more than 25 in all. During a special reception, advocates expressed how important it was to be able to speak for patients directly to the nurses and clinicians who most need to hear from them.

"Ultimately, people with cancer and their caregivers are the reason we are all here," said Dr. Carlson. "Not only are we working hard to keep up with rapidly expanding diagnoses and care options, we're helping make sure that cancer care worldwide becomes increasingly patient-centric."

For the full list of speakers, sponsors, and sessions, view the entire agenda at NCCN.org/conference. Join the conversation online with the hashtag #NCCNac18.

NCCN has more events coming up, including a policy summit on Policy Strategies for the "New Normal" in Health Care to Ensure Access to High Quality Cancer Care, in Washington, D.C. on June 25^th, the NCCN 13^th Annual Congress: Hematologic Malignancies™ in New York City, September 21-22, and next year's NCCN 24^th Annual Conference, March 21-23, 2019.

About the National Comprehensive Cancer Network

The National Comprehensive Cancer Network^® (NCCN^®), a not-for-profit alliance of 27 leading cancer centers devoted to patient care, research, and education, is dedicated to improving the quality, effectiveness, and efficiency of cancer care so that patients can live better lives. Through the leadership and expertise of clinical professionals at NCCN Member Institutions, NCCN develops resources that present valuable information to the numerous stakeholders in the health care delivery system. As the arbiter of high-quality cancer care, NCCN promotes the importance of continuous quality improvement and recognizes the significance of creating clinical practice guidelines appropriate for use by patients, clinicians, and other health care decision-makers.

The NCCN Member Institutions are: Fred & Pamela Buffett Cancer Center, Omaha, NE; Case Comprehensive Cancer Center/University Hospitals Seidman Cancer Center and Cleveland Clinic Taussig Cancer Institute, Cleveland, OH; City of Hope Comprehensive Cancer Center, Los Angeles, CA; Dana-Farber/Brigham and Women's Cancer Center | Massachusetts General Hospital Cancer Center, Boston, MA; Duke Cancer Institute, Durham, NC; Fox Chase Cancer Center, Philadelphia, PA; Huntsman Cancer Institute at the University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT; Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center/Seattle Cancer Care Alliance, Seattle, WA; The Sidney Kimmel Comprehensive Cancer Center at Johns Hopkins, Baltimore, MD; Robert H. Lurie Comprehensive Cancer Center of Northwestern University, Chicago, IL; Mayo Clinic Cancer Center, Phoenix/Scottsdale, AZ, Jacksonville, FL, and Rochester, MN; Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, New York, NY; Moffitt Cancer Center, Tampa, FL; The Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center - James Cancer Hospital and Solove Research Institute, Columbus, OH; Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center, Buffalo, NY; Siteman Cancer Center at Barnes-Jewish Hospital and Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, MO; St. Jude Children's Research Hospital/The University of Tennessee Health Science Center, Memphis, TN; Stanford Cancer Institute, Stanford, CA; University of Alabama at Birmingham Comprehensive Cancer Center, Birmingham, AL; UC San Diego Moores Cancer Center, La Jolla, CA; UCSF Helen Diller Family Comprehensive Cancer Center, San Francisco, CA; University of Colorado Cancer Center, Aurora, CO; University of Michigan Comprehensive Cancer Center, Ann Arbor, MI; The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, TX; University of Wisconsin Carbone Cancer Center, Madison, WI; Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center, Nashville, TN; and Yale Cancer Center/Smilow Cancer Hospital, New Haven, CT.