Chang M

Purpose: To inform stakeholders of a newly formed, VAbased, research oriented collaborative group, the Veterans Radiation Oncology Consortium (VET-ROC).

Background: To strengthen, promote and enhance VA oncology and radiation oncology centered research, VET-ROC was conceived in October 2018 at the San Antonio VA Radiation Oncology Field Based Meeting and formed with the consent of 18 members sites.

Results: An email sent to all 85 known VA radiation oncologists in October 2018 drew 18 positive responses to join a clinical research consortium within VA. Members responded to 2 questionnaires about the state of their program in October 2018 and April 2019. Per their responses, VET-ROC sites consist of approximately 47 FTE Radiation Oncologists and > 26 FTE Physicists. The sites reported a total of 7.1 FTEE Clinical Research Coordinators (CRC’s) in October 2018 and 10.2 FTE CRC’s in April 2019 with most sites sharing CRC’s with other specialties. Five sites reported a lack of any research coordinator in October 2018, and in April 2019, 3 of those 5 sites had received approval from their resource management committees to hire CRCs.

The group had a face to face meeting in FEB 2019 and has held conference calls every 4-6 weeks since then to review opportunities for research, shared best practices, partake in educational webinars, identify barriers to research development, opportunities for research proposals with at least 2 groups of members submitting Merit Review awards to CSR&D that may have been possible as a result of VET-ROC. Feedback on the progress the group has made has been largely positive. Individual responses noted that the group had created opportunities that would not have been possible otherwise. There were suggestions to formalize the structure of the group.

Conclusion: Since its formation, VET-ROC has been a very positive experience for its members who consist of a select group of Radiation Oncologists with shared common interests in clinical research. The group will likely continue to move grow and move forward if it can translate its momentum into research support obtained from a diverse source of funding mechanisms.

Purpose: To inform stakeholders of a newly formed, VAbased, research oriented collaborative group, the Veterans Radiation Oncology Consortium (VET-ROC).

Background: To strengthen, promote and enhance VA oncology and radiation oncology centered research, VET-ROC was conceived in October 2018 at the San Antonio VA Radiation Oncology Field Based Meeting and formed with the consent of 18 members sites.

Results: An email sent to all 85 known VA radiation oncologists in October 2018 drew 18 positive responses to join a clinical research consortium within VA. Members responded to 2 questionnaires about the state of their program in October 2018 and April 2019. Per their responses, VET-ROC sites consist of approximately 47 FTE Radiation Oncologists and > 26 FTE Physicists. The sites reported a total of 7.1 FTEE Clinical Research Coordinators (CRC’s) in October 2018 and 10.2 FTE CRC’s in April 2019 with most sites sharing CRC’s with other specialties. Five sites reported a lack of any research coordinator in October 2018, and in April 2019, 3 of those 5 sites had received approval from their resource management committees to hire CRCs.

The group had a face to face meeting in FEB 2019 and has held conference calls every 4-6 weeks since then to review opportunities for research, shared best practices, partake in educational webinars, identify barriers to research development, opportunities for research proposals with at least 2 groups of members submitting Merit Review awards to CSR&D that may have been possible as a result of VET-ROC. Feedback on the progress the group has made has been largely positive. Individual responses noted that the group had created opportunities that would not have been possible otherwise. There were suggestions to formalize the structure of the group.

Conclusion: Since its formation, VET-ROC has been a very positive experience for its members who consist of a select group of Radiation Oncologists with shared common interests in clinical research. The group will likely continue to move grow and move forward if it can translate its momentum into research support obtained from a diverse source of funding mechanisms.

Purpose: To inform stakeholders of a newly formed, VAbased, research oriented collaborative group, the Veterans Radiation Oncology Consortium (VET-ROC).

Background: To strengthen, promote and enhance VA oncology and radiation oncology centered research, VET-ROC was conceived in October 2018 at the San Antonio VA Radiation Oncology Field Based Meeting and formed with the consent of 18 members sites.

Results: An email sent to all 85 known VA radiation oncologists in October 2018 drew 18 positive responses to join a clinical research consortium within VA. Members responded to 2 questionnaires about the state of their program in October 2018 and April 2019. Per their responses, VET-ROC sites consist of approximately 47 FTE Radiation Oncologists and > 26 FTE Physicists. The sites reported a total of 7.1 FTEE Clinical Research Coordinators (CRC’s) in October 2018 and 10.2 FTE CRC’s in April 2019 with most sites sharing CRC’s with other specialties. Five sites reported a lack of any research coordinator in October 2018, and in April 2019, 3 of those 5 sites had received approval from their resource management committees to hire CRCs.

The group had a face to face meeting in FEB 2019 and has held conference calls every 4-6 weeks since then to review opportunities for research, shared best practices, partake in educational webinars, identify barriers to research development, opportunities for research proposals with at least 2 groups of members submitting Merit Review awards to CSR&D that may have been possible as a result of VET-ROC. Feedback on the progress the group has made has been largely positive. Individual responses noted that the group had created opportunities that would not have been possible otherwise. There were suggestions to formalize the structure of the group.

Conclusion: Since its formation, VET-ROC has been a very positive experience for its members who consist of a select group of Radiation Oncologists with shared common interests in clinical research. The group will likely continue to move grow and move forward if it can translate its momentum into research support obtained from a diverse source of funding mechanisms.

Background: The Veterans Affairs (VA) healthcare system is a high-volume provider of cancer care. Women are the fastest growing patient population using VA health care services. Quantifying the types of cancers diagnosed among women in the VA is a critical step toward identifying needed healthcare resources for women veterans with cancer.

Methods: We obtained data from the VA Central Cancer Registry for cancers newly diagnosed in calendar year 2010. Our analysis was limited to women diagnosed with invasive cancers (eg, stages I-IV) between January 1, 2010 and December 31, 2010 in the VA healthcare system. We evaluated frequency distributions of incident cancer diagnoses by primary anatomical site, race, and geographic region. For commonly occurring cancers, we reported distribution by stage.

Results: We identified 1,330 women diagnosed with invasive cancer in the VA healthcare system in 2010. The most commonly diagnosed cancer among women veterans was breast (30%), followed by cancers of the respiratory (16%), gastrointestinal (12%), and gynecological systems (12%). The most commonly diagnosed cancers were similar for white and minority women, except white women were significantly more likely to be diagnosed with respiratory cancers (P < .01) and minority women were significantly more likely to be diagnosed with gastrointestinal cancers (P = .03).

Conclusions: Understanding cancer incidence among women veterans is important for healthcare resource planning. While cancer incidence among women using the VA healthcare system is similar to US civilian women, the geographic dispersion and small incidence relative to male cancers raises challenges for high-quality, well-coordinated cancer care within the VA.

Background: The Veterans Affairs (VA) healthcare system is a high-volume provider of cancer care. Women are the fastest growing patient population using VA health care services. Quantifying the types of cancers diagnosed among women in the VA is a critical step toward identifying needed healthcare resources for women veterans with cancer.

Methods: We obtained data from the VA Central Cancer Registry for cancers newly diagnosed in calendar year 2010. Our analysis was limited to women diagnosed with invasive cancers (eg, stages I-IV) between January 1, 2010 and December 31, 2010 in the VA healthcare system. We evaluated frequency distributions of incident cancer diagnoses by primary anatomical site, race, and geographic region. For commonly occurring cancers, we reported distribution by stage.

Results: We identified 1,330 women diagnosed with invasive cancer in the VA healthcare system in 2010. The most commonly diagnosed cancer among women veterans was breast (30%), followed by cancers of the respiratory (16%), gastrointestinal (12%), and gynecological systems (12%). The most commonly diagnosed cancers were similar for white and minority women, except white women were significantly more likely to be diagnosed with respiratory cancers (P < .01) and minority women were significantly more likely to be diagnosed with gastrointestinal cancers (P = .03).

Conclusions: Understanding cancer incidence among women veterans is important for healthcare resource planning. While cancer incidence among women using the VA healthcare system is similar to US civilian women, the geographic dispersion and small incidence relative to male cancers raises challenges for high-quality, well-coordinated cancer care within the VA.

Background: The Veterans Affairs (VA) healthcare system is a high-volume provider of cancer care. Women are the fastest growing patient population using VA health care services. Quantifying the types of cancers diagnosed among women in the VA is a critical step toward identifying needed healthcare resources for women veterans with cancer.

Methods: We obtained data from the VA Central Cancer Registry for cancers newly diagnosed in calendar year 2010. Our analysis was limited to women diagnosed with invasive cancers (eg, stages I-IV) between January 1, 2010 and December 31, 2010 in the VA healthcare system. We evaluated frequency distributions of incident cancer diagnoses by primary anatomical site, race, and geographic region. For commonly occurring cancers, we reported distribution by stage.

Results: We identified 1,330 women diagnosed with invasive cancer in the VA healthcare system in 2010. The most commonly diagnosed cancer among women veterans was breast (30%), followed by cancers of the respiratory (16%), gastrointestinal (12%), and gynecological systems (12%). The most commonly diagnosed cancers were similar for white and minority women, except white women were significantly more likely to be diagnosed with respiratory cancers (P < .01) and minority women were significantly more likely to be diagnosed with gastrointestinal cancers (P = .03).

Conclusions: Understanding cancer incidence among women veterans is important for healthcare resource planning. While cancer incidence among women using the VA healthcare system is similar to US civilian women, the geographic dispersion and small incidence relative to male cancers raises challenges for high-quality, well-coordinated cancer care within the VA.