The Marshfield Clinic (MC) Community Clinical Oncology Program (CCOP) has consistently provided its patients unprecedented opportunities to participate in state-of-the-art clinical trials with the goal of improving the quality of life in cancer patients since its designation in 1983 by the National Cancer Institute (NCI). Marshfield Clinic's cancer care program is unique in that it serves a population with an above average population of elderly and a largely rural community. Because of its regional infrastructure, MC has a tremendously successful track record in attracting its patients into clinical trials participation and presently offers its patients the opportunity to participate in over 140 clinical cancer trials. The incidence of cancer in the MC catchment area has exhibited a steady pattern of annual increase since the late 1990's through 2007. The goal of renewing our status as a CCOP is to continue to offer a variety of cancer protocols to patients in a service area that is largely underrepresented in research and who would otherwise be awarded little opportunity for participation in these important trials. Our historical track record in cancer control and prevention and in treatment trials makes us confident that we will continue to achieve and exceed target enrollment goals and contribute positively to the overall efforts of the CCOP research bases. Realization of our research goals and delivery of quality controlled research services is facilitated by availability of sophisticated regional electronic health record system, cancer registries and research databases that capture data in real time. These tools serve as unprecedented resources to support patient screening and accruement. Ongoing monitoring of clinical data, clinical trial audits and continuous education in quality assurance ensure consistent accuracy of our data and patient safety. Enhancing enrollment is a primary goal and will be achieved by targeting more patients through use of the Wisconsin Comprehensive Cancer Control Plan's website (including targeting of minority populations by providing access to texts written in languages of minority populations represented in our service area). Additionally, we plan to offer the opportunity for participation in cancer clinical trial to patients in our newly expanded service areas. """"""""
