Cancer QI

Cancer Screening Quality Improvement (QI) Initiatives

Strategy 1

We provide training and technical assistance to health centers on evidence-based interventions (EBIs) to increase screening rates.

Provider assessment and feedback
Patient and provider reminders
Reducing structural barriers
Patient education
Patient navigation for cancer screening and care coordination

Strategy 2

We advance the patient navigation model by providing training and technical assistance to patient navigators to develop best practices in partnership with their clinic staff and share best practices with others, both locally and nationally.

We do this through one-on-one technical assistance and data analysis support to navigators at our member health centers. In addition, we facilitate a District-wide Patient Navigation for Cancer Peer Group.

Strategy 3

We build partnerships to increase coordination, capacity, infrastructure and resources to address systems-level challenges faced by patients and providers in access to high-quality cancer screening and care.

Cancer Portfolio Projects

Medstar Georgetown University Hospital – Patient Navigation Program

In 2016, due to the generous support of MedStar Georgetown University Hospital (MGUH), DCPCA and its member health centers developed the Cancer Patient Navigation program. MGUH is a non-profit acute-care teaching and research hospital. MGUH and DCPCA partnered with Bread for the City and Community of Hope to develop innovative primary care, patient-centered, evidence-based model that will aid in the removal of barriers associated with cancer screenings for District residents. The program’s primary objective is to increase cancer screening rates (breast, colorectal, and cervical) for patients in underserved communities. The MedStar-DCPCA program funds two full-time Patient Navigators, one at Community of Hope and one at Bread for the City, and supports DCPCA as a training body for the patient navigation model.

DC Department of Health Colorectal, Breast and Cervical Cancer Program (DC3C Program)

DC3C program strives to increase cancer screening among District residents through a multifaceted, outcomes based-approach that includes evidence-based interventions, professional development, and quality improvement strategies. At the beginning of 2015, the percentage of patients at District health centers who were up-to-date for their colorectal cancer screening was just 23% (2014 UDS). In 2015, DCPCA joined DC Health’s DC Screen for Life (DCSFL) program to improve colorectal cancer screening in the District. In 2015, the District augmented its program, with funding from the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) and renamed it the DC Colorectal Cancer Control Program (DC3C). In 2017, DC Health expanded the focus of this program yet again to encompass comprehensive cancer prevention activities to include screening and connection to quality care for colorectal cancer, cervical cancer, and breast cancer; and tobacco cessation interventions.

Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) - Bureau of Primary Health Care (BPHC)

DCPCA’s BPHC grant is broad and focuses on a variety of health topics from health information technology (HIT) to chronic diseases management. Specific to cancer screening, DCPCA address systems-level challenges that impact colorectal cancer screening for all health centers.

Jane Bancroft Robinson Foundation - Strategic Design Initiative (JBRF - SDI)

JBRF's project aims to identify and engage up to 20 community-based, nonprofit organizations (CBOs) or individual community-organizing partners to serve on one or both of two workgroups designed to be the heart of a 12-18 month, community-driven, strategic design initiative that will inform the Foundation's investment priorities in reducing cancer mortality and creating health-related career opportunities for women in Wards 7 and 8. The aim of the workgroup is to build up the patient navigation system in our region. To date, DCPCA has collaborated with committee members to develop several steps within intervention development such as root cause analysis, journey mapping, analysis and prioritization of themes, intervention design, racial equity impact assessment (REIA) and stakeholder engagement.