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ACCESS
Objective 5.1: Increase the proportion of women who engage in breast
cancer screening behaviors, according to appropriate guidelines, with special attention to “high risk” populations.
Strategies:
- Establish an integrated, ongoing public information program to foster a high degree of knowledge among women of all ages about breast cancer risks & benefits of early detection.
- Promote & expand community level programs, such as breast cancer coalitions, to increase education about the risk of breast cancer & the need for screening (and re-screening) at appropriate intervals.
- Encourage health care providers to routinely counsel women in their care to undergo breast cancer screening./li>
- Integrate reminder systems into physicians’ practices.
- Increase the use of available financial resources for routine screening for uninsured & underinsured women.
- Encourage in-state self-insured companies & in-state branches of companies located outside Kentucky to provide screening mammography coverage in accordance with evidence based screening guidelines.
- Ensure that age-eligible women in counties without mammography facilities have adequate access to breast cancer screening through facilities in adjoining counties and/or mobile mammography units.
- Encourage hospitals & other health service organizations to offer free or low-cost breast cancer screening.
- Develop & implement interventions targeting at-risk populations.
Objective 6.1: Increase screening according to appropriate guidelines with special attention to “high risk” populations.
Strategies:
- Establish an integrated, ongoing public information program to foster a high degree of knowledge among women about cervical cancer risks & early detection.
- Develop & monitor programs that specifically target older women with the message about screening.
- Increase the number of health providers who perform or refer women for regular pap tests & pelvic exams.
- Reduce access barriers to screening.
- Develop & implement standards of care for patient reporting, tracking & follow-up.
Objective 7.1: Increase screening according to appropriate guidelines with special attention to “high risk” populations.
Strategies:
- Increase access to recommended colorectal cancer screenings for Kentuckians, ages 50 & older.
- Encourage health care providers to offer or refer patients for routine screening.
- Establish an educational campaign on colorectal cancer risk factors & screening.
Objective 8.1: Increase screening according to appropriate guidelines with special attention to “high risk” populations, such as African Americans.
Strategies:
- Develop targeted education & outreach programs for African American men that focus on prevention, early detection & information on best practices for prostate cancer treatment.
- Provide access to current information on best practices for prostate cancer treatment.
- Encourage men to talk to their health care providers about early detection of prostate cancer.
Goal 9: Increase the proportion of cancer patients with access to state-of-the-art cancer treatment services.
Objective 9.1: Decrease the disparity in access to state-of-the-art treatment services based on financial and/or insurance status.
Strategies:
- Educate community regarding how & where to access care if uninsured & ineligible.
- Encourage in-state self-insured companies & in-state branches of companies located outside Kentucky to provide cancer treatment coverage in accordance with current evidence based treatment guidelines.
- Promote & enroll people who are currently eligible for health care services through Medicaid, and expand the eligibility.
- Promote insurance coverage of treatment under clinical trials.
- Work with policy makers to include diagnostic services in health care plans.
Objective 9.2: Decrease the disparity in access to state-of-the-art treatment services based on geography.
Strategies:
- Expand educational programming, distance learning & teleconference capabilities to cover rural areas through out the state.
- Encourage health care providers in remote areas to work collectively to increase access to screening facilities & arrange for treatment specialists to establish office hours in their areas.
- Increase free or low-cost transportation & housing options for persons in remote areas, who have to travel for treatment services.
- Invest in local health facilities & other community-based resources.
- Increase the number of certified nurses, social workers, translators & other healthcare professionals & funding for retaining professionals in underserved areas.
Objective 9.3: Increase patient participation in clinical trials.
Strategies:
- Encourage physicians to inform & educate cancer patients about the availability & benefits of clinical trails & to offer participation in clinical trials as a choice.
- Increase patient education on the purpose & benefits of clinical trials.
- Reduce financial & geographic barriers to participation in clinical trials.
Objective 12.3: Increase utilization of available services that enhance quality of life for cancer patients from diagnosis onward.
Strategies:
- Increase awareness of available services that enhance quality of life for cancer patients from diagnosis onward.
- Work at the community level to increase access to cancer support services, through low cost transportation & placement of services in rural medical facilities.
- Develop patient navigation or case management programs that improve quality of life.
- Increase human resources/workplace education regarding patient rights.
- Advocate for more appropriate reimbursement of medically necessary psychosocial & palliative care
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