In the 117th Congress, U.S. Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (FL-23), Sen. Amy Klobuchar (MN), Sen. Ben Cardin (MA), Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick (PA-1), and Rep. Mark DeSaulnier (CA-11), introduced The Comprehensive Cancer Survivorship Act (CCSA), a legislation that aims to provide a lifeline for survivors and their families by addressing the entire survivorship continuum of care.
With more than 18 million cancer survivors in the United States, and 26 million expected by 2040, there is a pressing need to empower them with the best possible resources and care to overcome this terrible disease. The CCSA will set new care standards to ensure the best and most seamless experience for survivors, their families, and caregivers, throughout their survivorship journey, from diagnosis to end of life.
The CCSA’s key pillars are:
Care Planning and Transition: Provides coverage to address the transition to primary care to help survivors develop personalized treatment care plans, standardizes processes, and consolidates treatments to guide survivorship monitoring and follow-up care;
Alternative Payment Model: Studies existing reimbursement landscape to develop an alternative payment model to ensure a coordinated approach to survivorship care across an episode of care;
Navigation: Develops effective and comprehensive navigation services that emphasize the continuum of care, such as follow-up and health disparities and determinants, like food insecurity, housing, transportation, labor, broadband, telehealth access, and childcare;
Quality of Care: Establishes grants to promote utilization of navigation, employment of risk-stratification, transition to primary care, utilization of care plans, potential use of at-home care, and better use of information technology for patient experience data;
Workforce: Establishes workforce assistance grants to help survivors, their families, and caregivers when faced with a range of workforce challenges; and
Education & Awareness: Creates resources for survivors and health professionals to promote early detection, preventive care and help providers provide high-quality services.
The legislation also addresses issues such as the innovation and use of technology, fertility preservation, long-term studies, survivorship resources, and provisions concerning childhood and adolescent cancer.
The following organizations support The Comprehensive Cancer Survivorship Act (CCSA): Alliance for Fertility Preservation (AFP), American Association for Cancer Research (AACR), American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network (ACS-CAN), American Lung Association, American Society for Reproductive Medicine (ASRM), Asian American Pacific Islander Nurses Association (AAPINA), Association for Clinical Oncology, Breast Care for Washington, Brem Foundation, Cancer Support Community (CSC), CancerCare, Children’s Cancer Cause (CCC), Disability Rights Legal Center, FORCE: Facing Our Risk of Cancer Empowered, LUNGevity Foundation, Lymphoma Research Foundation (LRF), Malecare and the National LGBT Cancer Project, Moffitt Cancer Center, National Coalition for Cancer Survivorship (NCCS), National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN), Nueva Vida, Oncology Nursing Society (ONS), Prevent Cancer Foundation, Sisters Network Inc., Susan G. Komen, Tigerlily Foundation, Triage Cancer, University of Miami Sylvester Comprehensive Cancer Center, YMCA of the USA, Young Survival Coalition
The original bill text can be found here, the section by section here, and one pager here.
