Increasing access to blood cancer care in Colorado and surrounding regions
Clayton Smith
MDUniversity of Colorado Denver, Anschutz Medical Campus
Project Term: October 1, 2022 - September 30, 2027
The University of Colorado (CU) Division of Hematology/UCHealth Blood Disorders Center (BDCTC) is the only academic program serving patients with hematologic malignancies in the Rocky Mountain Region. This program sees ~1000 new patients annually and operates a dedicated Hematology Clinical Trials Unit (HCTU) that provides clinical trials to persons throughout the Rocky Mountain Region and beyond. Despite opening many clinical trials, it is clear that underserved populations (economically disadvantaged, rural, and/or underrepresented minorities) have low levels of trial enrollment. It is also clear that more proactive efforts are needed in order to more effectively deliver the therapeutic benefits of clinical trials to underserved populations. In order to accomplish this goal, we propose to work with regional community oncology centers on three complementary efforts to increase enrollment of underserved populations throughout the Colorado front range major population centers (metro Denver, Fort Collins, Colorado Springs) as well as rural Colorado and the Rocky Mountain region.
The University of Colorado (CU) Division of Hematology/UCHealth Blood Disorders Center (BDCTC) is the only academic program serving patients with hematologic malignancies in the Rocky Mountain Region. This program sees ~1000 new malignant hematology patients annually and operates a dedicated Hematology Clinical Trials Unit (HCTU) that provides clinical trials to persons throughout the Rocky Mountain Region and beyond. Despite offering many clinical trials at CU, there are few opportunities for participation by patients served at distant community oncology centers. This also contributes to a low participation level of underserved populations (economically disadvantaged, rural, and underrepresented minorities). It is also clear that more proactive efforts are needed to deliver the therapeutic benefits of clinical trials more effectively to underserved populations. In order to increase community participation in clinical trials, we propose to work with regional community oncology centers on three complementary efforts to increase enrollment of patients served by community oncology centers with an effort to also increase participation of underserved populations throughout the Colorado front range major population centers (metro Denver, Fort Collins, Colorado Springs) as well as rural Colorado and the Rocky Mountain region. These include 1) seeking to engage patients in the community more effectively through nurse navigators who will work in community oncology centers to facilitate clinical trials and outreach efforts, 2) create/expand virtual remote clinical trials operations at the University of Colorado designed to specifically assist these patients to overcome practical barriers to clinical trials enrollment and participation, and 3) work with the CU Anschutz Center for Native American Health Care to specifically address unique social and practical barriers to clinical trials participation by Native Americans in the Rocky Mountain Region. Through these three complementary efforts, we hope to improve outcomes for patients served by community oncology centers, increase participation of those underrepresented in clinical trials, and also increase representative tissue banking and data collection that will enhance efforts to develop the next generation of therapies for a variety of blood cancers.