IOWA CITY, IOWA (RFD NEWS) — A new initiative from the American College of Surgeons is working to improve access to quality cancer care in rural communities, where patients often face long drives and limited access to specialists.
Dr. Ronald Weigel, medical director with the American College of Surgeons, joined us on Thursday’s Market Day Report to discuss how rural cancer patients face significant barriers to care and experience disparities in cancer outcomes.
In his interview with RFD News, Weigel said that access to specialists is a major challenge. He noted that about 60 percent of rural counties lack a general surgeon, while roughly two-thirds lack an oncologist.
Those shortages can force patients to travel long distances for treatment. Weigel says patients in rural areas also experience about a 15 percent higher cancer mortality rate following a diagnosis compared with their counterparts in other areas.
The American College of Surgeons Commission on Cancer is addressing the issue through a new rural accreditation category designed to set quality standards that better reflect the resources available at rural hospitals. The goal is to bring higher-quality cancer care closer to rural patients rather than requiring them to leave their communities for treatment.
Pilot programs in Kentucky and Iowa found that accreditation provided rural hospitals with guidelines and resources to improve cancer care. The process can also help hospitals develop stronger referral networks and make it more likely that specialists remain in rural communities.
Weigel says accreditation can also help rural communities retain oncologists and other specialists while creating referral networks with larger hospitals and academic medical centers when patients need more advanced care. He says the goal is to bring accredited cancer programs directly to rural communities, allowing patients to receive more care closer to home while still having access to larger medical centers when needed.
He says patients and families looking for accredited cancer programs can find additional information through the American College of Surgeons’ rural cancer resources.
LEARN MORE: www.facs.org
