Ozarks Regional Community Clinical Oncology Program (CCOP) is a consortium of two hospitals -- St. John's Regional Health Center and Lester E. Cox Medical Centers. There are twenty- three physicians willing to put patients on protocol. Groundwork in protocol management has been laid by five of the medical oncologists whose experience during the past five years has exposed them to a wide variety of NCI approved protocols. Centralizing data management offers these physicians the support necessary to generate a larger number of protocol studies. Quality assurance procedure and poly compliance is of the highest priority in implementing accurate and timely data submission. The Ozarks Regional CCOP serves a catchment area of 16 counties with a projected population of 600,000. Of the cancer patient population identified, 76% of the patients are 60 years of age and older. Since a steady increase in the elderly population is expected and since many are on fixed incomes, they are essentially under served in securing the benefits of therapeutic research protocols. To access centers where these protocols are available, residents must travel to distant major medical communities, e.g., Tulsa, 185 miles; Kansas City, 195 miles; St. Louis, 215 miles; and Little Rock 223 miles. Previous protocol experience has demonstrated the ability of the physicians to realize the projected 95.2 credits for therapeutic protocols and 49.1 credits for cancer control protocols for the first year. Subsequent cancer control yearly requirements of 30 credits and 50 credits can be easily attained. Ozarks Regional CCOP has come into being to expand the capability of the physician to reach more cancer patients with the benefits of research protocols. It seeks to work with its research base, SWOG and M.D. Anderson, and the NCI to reduce cancer morbidity and mortality so that the goal set forth for the year 2000 can be achieved.
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