Patient-Centered Cancer Care Certification

Infographic displaying factors that contribute to patient-centered cancer care

The ASCO Patient-Centered Cancer Care Certification is a new, two-year pilot that will certify outpatient oncology group practices and health systems that meet a single set of comprehensive, expert-backed standards for patient-centered care delivery.

The pilot includes 88 cancer care sites and nearly 500 oncologists from 12 participating practice groups and health systems in a variety of settings, including community, hospital, and academic settings.

Throughout the Pilot, participating practices will demonstrate compliance with the standards through documentation, observable processes, and data review including oncology treatment pathway utilization and patient feedback surveys.

Practices will be certified by the ASCO Certification Program based on adherence to the published ASCO-COA Oncology Home Standards.

ASCO awarded the first set of certifications in the Summer of 2022. Pending successful completion of the pilot, ASCO plans to open the certification to other participants.

ASCO-COA Oncology Medical Home Standards

The pilot is based on oncology medical home standards from ASCO and the Community Oncology Alliance (COA). These standards, which were published in JCO Oncology Practice in July 2021 aim to establish core elements needed to deliver equitable, high-quality cancer care and achieve broad consensus among all stakeholders on what patients with cancer should expect and receive from their cancer care teams. The OMH standards focus on seven different domains of cancer care, including patient engagement; availability and access to care; evidence-based medicine; equitable and comprehensive team-based care; quality improvement; goals of care, palliative and end-of-life care discussions; and chemotherapy safety.

Participating Practices and Payers

Participating oncology practices and payers include:

  • Blue Ridge Cancer Care, Roanoke, VA ​

  • Cancer & Hematology Centers of Western Michigan, a partner of OneOncology Grand Rapids, MI​

  • Central Georgia Cancer Care, Macon, GA​

  • Jefferson Health – Sidney Kimmel Cancer Center, Philadelphia, PA​

  • Hematology-Oncology Associates of CNY, East Syracuse, NY​

  • Memorial Cancer Institute, Hollywood, FL ​

  • Nebraska Hematology-Oncology, PC, Lincoln, NE​

  • New England Cancer Specialists, Affiliate Member of Dana Farber Cancer Institute, Scarborough, ME​

  • Tennessee Oncology, a partner of OneOncology, Nashville, TN​

  • The Center for Cancer and Blood Disorders, a partner of OneOncology Forth Worth, TX​

  • University of Colorado Cancer Center, Aurora, CO ​

  • Yale New Haven Health - Smilow Cancer Hospital, New Haven, CT​

Elevance (formerly Anthem) and Cigna, national payers, have also signed on to participate and will share hospital utilization, drug utilization, and other data for a number of practices in order to monitor the impact of the pilot on cost and outcomes. Additional payers may be added during the pilot period. ASCO continues its dialogue with national and local commercial payers, Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), and employer coalitions.

Pilot Timeline

  • July 1, 2021 – Pilot launches
  • Fall/Winter 2021 – Measure periods and site surveys conducted
  • Summer 2022 – Certification awarded to practices
  • Fall 2022 – Ongoing assessment and improvement activities begin
  • Summer 2023 – Pilot completion and assessment

Learn More

To learn more about the pilot and future Oncology Medical Home offerings from ASCO, please contact patientcenteredcare@asco.org.