John Z. Ayanian is the principal investigator on this project. Debby Collins is the project contact: 617-432-3467.
The Cancer Care Outcomes Research and Surveillance (CanCORS) Consortium is a collaboration of seven teams of investigators throughout the United States. The Consortium’s main goal is to examine the care delivered to population-based cohorts of newly diagnosed patients with lung and colorectal cancer. For each of these cancers, approximately 5,000 patients have been enrolled in the study. These cohorts are representative of numerous geographic areas and health care delivery systems and are diverse with respect to patients’ age, race, ethnicity, socioeconomic status, stage of disease, and burden of illness. Data have been collected from detailed surveys of patients and their caregivers and physicians, as well as extensive reviews of their medical records.
The CanCORS Consortium provides a unique opportunity to examine care that is being delivered to patients with lung and colorectal cancer in community settings in multiple regions of the United States, to identify variations in care, and to begin to understand the reasons for these variations. In addition, the Consortium is assessing outcomes associated with that care. By collecting and analyzing data from a large number of patients in geographically diverse settings, the findings of this study will help clinicians and policymakers improve cancer care and the experiences of cancer patients.
The Consortium consists of six primary data-collection and research sites and a statistical coordinating center. HCP is participating as a primary data-collection and research site in a collaborative effort of the Harvard Medical School, Northern California Cancer Center, Cancer Surveillance Program of Sacramento, California Cancer Registry/Public Health Institute, and Kaiser Permanente Northern California Division of Research. Dr. John Z. Ayanian is the principal investigator. The HCP group is studying population-based cohorts of patients with newly diagnosed colorectal cancer and lung cancer in eight Northern California counties that include the San Francisco, Oakland, San Jose, and Sacramento metropolitan areas. The Harvard/Northern California research team has three specific aims focused on sociodemographic differences in care:
- evaluating the relation of patients’ race, ethnicity, socioeconomic status, insurance coverage, gender, and age to processes of care;
- assessing the effect of sociodemographic factors on patients’ outcomes;
- combining medical record and survey data with larger datasets to obtain improved estimates of sociodemographic effects on processes and outcomes of cancer care.
