Evaluation of a National Quality Improvement Collaborative for Improving Cancer Screening

Area of Science:

• Oncology
• Public Health
• Quality Improvement Science

Background:

• Cancer screening deficits occurred during the COVID-19 pandemic and persisted into 2021.
• These deficits may lead to increased cancer-related deaths over the next decade if unaddressed.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate if a nationwide quality improvement (QI) collaborative, named Return-to-Screening, helped restore cancer screening rates.
• To assess the association between participation in the QI collaborative and the recovery of cancer screening volumes.

Main Methods:

• Accredited cancer programs voluntarily joined the QI study.
• QI teams implemented evidence-based interventions from June to November 2021 to meet targets for restoring prepandemic screening volumes.
• Interrupted time series analyses were used to determine the intervention's effect on mean monthly screening test volumes (MTVs).

Main Results:

• Out of 859 QI projects, 79% achieved their target MTVs.
• Interventions led to a significant immediate and sustained increase in MTVs compared to pre-intervention trends.
• Over 170,000 additional screening tests were performed during the intervention period compared to the prepandemic baseline.

Conclusions:

• Participation in the national Return-to-Screening QI collaborative was linked to improved cancer screening rates.
• Multifaceted QI interventions effectively addressed screening deficits.
• Future QI initiatives utilizing accreditation infrastructure could help resolve other cancer care gaps.