Bladder cancer remains a prevalent disease with significant disparities in care, particularly in underserved populations. To address this, ACCC launched a national quality improvement initiative in three phases: 1. assessment and preparation, 2. action plan implementation, and 3. monitoring for continuous improvement. Dr. Samuel Washington, from the University of California, San Francisco, discussed the initiative’s early findings, highlighting site-specific approaches.

Sustainability was a key consideration, ensuring a balance between short-term wins and long-term impact. Action plans need to be both ambitious and practical to drive meaningful change. Continuing outcome monitoring will refine strategies, and the initiative could serve as a replication model in other clinical settings and cancer types. An important opportunity exists to expand multidisciplinary collaboration to include patient advocates and ensure the long-term integration of these improvements. Despite varied site objectives, all participants were committed to improving cancer care. This initiative highlights the power of structured, collaborative efforts to address disparities and enhance patient outcomes.

"Now we have an opportunity to bring in patients and advocates… and expand this type of work in a structured way to other cancers and other institutions, other sites in an already national program." – Dr. Samuel Washington

“The feasibility of the program overall was important, the fact that we could engage leadership champions at the clinic level and then multi-disciplinary team buy-in at each institution with this goal across oncology, urology, practices, radiation oncology, nursing, to all come together for each of these visits to help develop an action plan, it is something that I have not seen much of in recent years." – Dr. Samuel Washington

Samuel L. Washington III, MD, MAS

Assistant Professor of Urology,

Goldberg-Benioff Endowed Professorship in Cancer Biology
University of California, San Francisco
San Francisco, CA

Additional Resources:

Implementing Shared Decision-Making in Bladder Cancer Care eCourse (https://courses.accc-cancer.org/products/implementing-shared-decision-making-in-bladder-cancer-care?_gl=1*1l9u2ab*_ga*MTU3NjkxMTU5Mi4xNzM2MTc4MTQy*_ga_HW05FVSTWC*MTczODk0Mjk3OS41MC4xLjE3Mzg5NDMyOTAuNTUuMC4w#tab-product_tab_overview)

Understanding and Mitigating Disparities in Bladder Cancer (https://www.accc-cancer.org/docs/projects/bladder-cancer/understanding-and-mitigating-disparities-in-bladder-cancer-care.pdf?sfvrsn=a2630102_2&)

Providing Equitable Care for Patients With Bladder Cancer (https://www.accc-cancer.org/docs/projects/bladder-cancer/accc_bladdercancer_8-5x11_patientexperienceresorce_interactive.pdf?sfvrsn=934efb33_2&)

Effective Practices in Bladder Cancer Care: Multispecialty Clinics (https://www.accc-cancer.org/docs/projects/bladder-cancer/accc_bladdercancer_1_multispecialtyclinics.pdf?sfvrsn=e4cf453f_2&)