Access to Excellence: Montana Cancer Consortium CCOP (MCC) has since 1996 provided access to NCI sponsored clinical trials for all 46 medical and radiation oncologists in Montana and Northern Wyoming, serving approximately 1 million people in a rural area of 150,000 square miles. Montana health care quality ranks among the highest in the country, but access to care ranks low due to the vastness of the region and concentration of the medical community in a few widespread cities. MCC membership includes 22 affiliate performance sites. As our physicians work to access the population through outlying clinics hundreds of miles from home, MCC provides access to state-of-the-art cancer treatment and control via cutting-edge research of NCI-sponsored trials. This uniquely rural population including 7 Native American reservations does not have convenient access to large university-based treatment facilities, and without nationally recognized clinical trials, patients would not have access to a high level of cancer care. MCC intends to extend access by expanding the physician roster to include other disciplines. Accrual: MCC is currently affiliated with 4 research bases, SWOG, NSABP, NCCTG, and RTOG as well as CTSU. MCC is actively pursuing a fifth affiliation to increase access to cancer control and prevention trials. MCC ranks high in accrual with the research bases accruing more than 4000 participants to clinical trials. The goal is to increase accrual by 5% annually. Quality: MCC is dedicated to quality data and maintains excellent performance reviews and audits. Centralized data management and quality assurance ensure timely registrations and submissions of data. Human subject protection is achieved by central IRB review. Drug accountability is met by a central pharmacy (Billings) and supervised satellites. The goal of MCC is to maintain and enhance this level of quality through education and increased communication. The uniquely rural population of Montana and Northern Wyoming lacks convenient access to large university-based treatment facilities and without nationally-recognized clinical trials patients would not have access to a high level of cancer care. MCC provides access to state-of-the-art cancer treatment and cancer control through cutting edge research of NCI-sponsored clinical trials.
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