Comprehensive Cancer Control Program (CCC)

Mission

Comprehensive Cancer Control (CCC) works to reduce the burden of cancer in Rhode Island through the development, implementation, and maintenance of a diverse statewide coalition of over 150 members, the Partnership to Reduce Cancer in Rhode Island. The Partnership represents a broad base of cancer interests including medical professionals, hospitals, public health, business, government, communitybased organizations, advocates, and foundations, physical and other specialty therapists, spiritual leaders, minority communities, and cancer survivors. The Partnership is actively engaged in implementing the 2007-2012 State Plan to Reduce Cancer in RI through workgroups. The Plan's primary goals and objectives are: prevention, detection and screening, treatment, survivorship, surveillance and evaluation, and palliative care. The overarching goal of the plan is to eliminate disparities in all these areas and to assure a competent and compassionate workforce in all areas represented by the Plan. In 2011 and 2012, the Partnership will update and revise the State Plan. The CCC Colorectal Screening Improvement Project works directly with the RI Chronic Care Collaborative (RICCC) and its participating Community Health Centers (CHC). Success is achieved by training CHC teams in colorectal cancer, endoscopic (colonoscopy) screening, fecal occult blood tests, and patient history taking. Patient follow-up, self-management, and navigation are learned through collaborative trainings in `teaching for screening' and motivational interviewing.

2010 Accomplishments and Milestones

• Funded seven Rhode Island Chronic Care Collaborative (RICCC) Health Centers to improve the quality of colorectal screening rates with over 370 referrals for colonoscopies.
• Worked closely with Project SCUP (Screening Colonoscopies for Underserved Persons) to align referrals for Colorectal Cancer Screening (CRC) and CCC utilizing patient navigation techniques; SCUP has provided 220 colonoscopies, with a higher than the state and national average for positive results, and removed cancerous polyps in two patients resulting in fully cancer free diagnoses.
• The Partnership to Reduce Cancer in RI contributed to policy changes in reducing access to tobacco for minors, improving access to adolescents for human papilloma virus vaccination; implemented a statewide survivorship needs survey, and two surveys for hospitals and oncology professionals regarding disparities in clinical trials in RI.
• The Partnership celebrated the achievement of all RI Hospitals achieving American College of Surgeons (ACOS) certification for their Cancer Centers

Programs within the Comprehensive Cancer Control Program

Screening Colonoscopies for Uninsured People (SCUP) Program

This program works to provide necessary colorectal cancer screenings for people with limited access to healthcare. (more)

Key Focus Areas

Comprenhensive Cancer Control Planning

The Comprehensive Cancer Control Plan descibes strategies for cancer prevention, cancer screening, and cancer treatment. The plan is intended to be a "working plan," easily revised in response to Rhode Island's changing cancer profile and to new scientific findings about the prevention, detection, and treatment of cancer. Every year, the Comprehensive Cancer Control Program invites the cancer control community to join it in identifying describing and developing quanitfied objectives and evaluation strategies for annual priorities for cancer control.