SIP 14-011: Appalachian Center for Cancer Education, Screening, and Support (ACCESS)

The University of Kentucky Prevention Research Center proposes the Appalachian Center for Cancer Education, Screening, and Support (ACCESS) as a collaborating center of the Cancer Prevention and Control Research Network (CPCRN). ACCESS is dedicated to supporting the overall mission of CPCRN to accelerate the adoption of evidence-based cancer prevention and control in communities and to reduce the burden of cancer in underserved populations. To that end, ACCESS focuses on the dissemination and implementation of evidence-based cancer interventions across multiple levels of care to impact Appalachian cancer disparities. In addition to participating in large-scale CPCRN initiatives, ACCESS proposes a regional project with White House Clinics, a federally qualified health center serving a medically underserved, high poverty region in Appalachian Kentucky via 6 community health centers. The academic-community partnership is guided by a systems-based participatory research approach to sustainable translational research and quality improvement that engages health system leadership, practicing clinicians, and patients. The project focuses on the design, implementation, and evaluation of a proactive office encounter (POE) intervention, a systematic approach to offering breast, cervical, and colorectal cancer screening services at every office encounter for every patient. Formative research will inform the development of a POE feasibility study at the White House Clinic-McKee, followed by dissemination and implementation of POE at the remaining five White House Clinics and, ultimately, to other healthcare systems in Appalachian Kentucky. The overall goal is to use existing primary care services more efficiently and effectively to promote cancer preventive services to achieve gains in population health