Detailed information on the quality of cancer care is lacking, especially among special population groups such as minorities, low-income, and the elderly. Our purpose is to conduct a prospective study of processes of cancer care and patient-centered outcomes, in a population-based sample of newly diagnosed lung (n=700) and colorectal cancer patients (n=700) residing in Alabama and Georgia, with 40% of each group to be African-American. Our multidisciplinary team of highly experienced clinical scientists, epidemiologists, and behaviorists has conducted numerous long-term trials and observational studies, such as the Prostate, Lung, Colorectal, and Ovarian cancer screening trial(PLCO)and the Women?s Health Initiative (WHI), establishing an outstanding record of recruitment and retention success in large, long-term, multi-center collaborative studies. Our team also includes researchers from Morehouse School of Medicine, a partnership which expands our targeted geographical area and will ensure our success in recruiting a large sample of African Americans. We have developed a set of overall objectives and general hypotheses, with an expanded, illustrative list of cancer site-specific hypotheses related to the CanCORS objectives. From these, we propose a set of core data elements to be collected, with the understanding that all hypotheses and decisions regarding core data will be developed and finalized by the consortium members during the first year of CanCORS. Lung and Colorectal cancer cases will be identified by a rapid ascertainment system conducted with the Alabama and Georgia State Cancer Registries and the Alabama Quality Assurance Foundation (Peer Review Organization contracted by HCFA to insure quality care for Medicare beneficiaries). In addition, A patient resource network including major hospitals, regional cancer centers, oncology groups, pathologists, patient advocates, gastroenterologists, and pulmonologists was also established to promote recruitment and data collection. Finally, we have available highly experienced staff and an advanced infrastructure to support all aspects of the recruitment, follow-up, and data collection and management activities required for CanCORS.
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