The 130th Annual Meeting of APHA

Abstract #47648

Sarita Malik Bhalotra, MD, PhD and Mathilda Ruwe, MD. Schneider Institute for Health Policy, Brandies University, MS 035, 415 South Street, Brandeis University, Waltham, MA 02454, 781 736 3960, bhalotra@brandeis.edu

CMS contracted with the Schneider Institute for Health Policy, the Heller School, Brandeis University, to produce an Evidence Report that would inform Demonstrations to reduce ethnic and racial disparities in cancer prevention and treatment. A two-pronged approach was chosen to collect data for this report. This involved a comprehensive literature search for interventions focussing on target ethnic and racial minorities for health promotion and the prevention, screening, diagnosis and treatment of cancer. Side-by-side, researchers also sought to identify emerging community models through telephone screening and site visits to multiple models of care. An organizing framework adapted from management science was developed to assist project members engaged in the research to collect and analyze the data in a systematic way. This included, first, the theory-based construction of a flowchart for tracking the continuum of care involved in prevention, screening, diagnosis and treatment, that was generalizable to the cancers under consideration. Next, identifiable factors and/or interventions at each decision point in the model were collapsed into major categories arrayed along an Ishikawa diagram. Finally, the Pareto principle was used to prioritize amongst effective interventions identified through this process. The rationale and process of developing this analytical framework is described, and demonstrated by application to a specific cancer. Its generalizability for the efficient and methodical organization of data is discussed, as well as its utility as a synthesizing tool.

Learning Objectives:

• Construct a framework for the analysis of the evidence for factors that impact on racial and ethnic disparities in cancer prevention and treatment
• Demonstrate the framework by analyzing a specific cancer (breast)
• Apply the framework to the synthesis of findings from the analysis

Presenting author's disclosure statement:
I do not have any significant financial interest/arrangement or affiliation with any organization/institution whose products or services are being discussed in this session.