SEER Patterns of Care Quality of Care Study Diagnosis Year 2016

The objectives of the SEER Patterns of Care Study are to: 1) describe the use of adjuvant therapy, which will be verified with the treating physician, in a community setting; 2) characterize the practice patterns in different communities; 3) describe more completely the use of surgery, radiation therapy, chemotherapy, and hormonal therapy in the treatment of specific cancers; 4) compare the patterns of treatment modalities over time and by age and race/ethnicity; 5) describe the types and effects of co-morbid conditions on treatment; 6) describe treatment by hospital characteristics: i.e. for profit vs. not for profit, teaching vs. non-teaching, physician specialty, etc., 7) describe the use of biomarkers and diagnostic tests and compare their use by race/ethnicity and geographic region; 8) provide additional data for analyses by linking POC data to SEER-Medicare files; and 9) address quality control issues related to routine data abstraction. This pattern of care study is undertaken to examine and characterize the cancer treatment practice patterns in different geographic areas of the United States. The cancer types to be investigated are female early stage (0/I/II/IIIA) breast cancer, colorectal cancer (stage II/III), and non-small cell (NSCLC) lung cancer (stage I/II, IIIA, IIIB/IV, unstaged). The sample consists of 320 patients randomly selected from all eligible cancer sites and histologies. The abstractors will travel to the medical facilities which reported each patient to review the medical chart when possible. Records may also be obtained via mail and fax. Information on insurance status, hospital, and tumor characteristics will be abstracted from the medical record. In addition, information regarding patient participation in clinical trials as well as any surgery or therapy provided to the patients will be abstracted from the medical record and verified with the treating physician via office records or physician verification forms. Data will be collected for patients 20 years of age or older who were diagnosed in 2015 for each site. Data submitted by participating SEER registries will be aggregated and the data will be analyzed by researchers at the National Cancer Institute.