Cancer

Current Projects

• Federal Agencies' Recent Collaboration and Innovation in Rural Cancer Control: A Model for Practice
  The investigators will conduct an examination of the multi-year effort by the National Cancer Institute to focus on rural cancer issues and its collaboration with the Federal Office of Rural Health Policy. The project will explore the key pieces of evidence that served as the impetus for the emphasis on rural America in cancer control efforts.
  Research center: Southwest Rural Health Research Center
  Topic: Cancer
  
• Geographic Misclassification of Cancer Care Physicians and Rural Cancer Care Service Delivery Patterns
  This study will examine the potential misclassification of rural cancer care capacity by quantifying the degree to which classification by primary practice location underestimates the availability of cancer care services in rural areas when urban-based physicians regularly cross geographic boundaries to serve rural populations.
  Research center: WWAMI Rural Health Research Center
  Topics: Cancer, Health services, Healthcare access, Physicians, Rural statistics and demographics, Workforce
  
• Health Care Spending for Seven Chronic Conditions by Rurality: A National Chartbook
  National health care spending estimates often lack the geographic detail needed to examine rural-urban differences. This project will create a county-level chartbook of spending for seven chronic conditions, showing variation across the rural-urban continuum nationally and by Census Division to inform resource allocation and care delivery priorities.
  Research center: WWAMI Rural Health Research Center
  Topics: Cancer, Chronic diseases and conditions, Diabetes, Mental and behavioral health, Substance use and treatment
  
• Preventive Cancer Screenings and Behaviors Among Rural and Urban Populations
  This study examines rural use of preventive cancer screenings and related behaviors using Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System data. It will examine rural-urban differences in adherence to U.S. Preventive Services Task Force guidelines for cancer screenings and explore associated behavioral risk factors.
  Research center: Northeast Rural Health Research Center
  Topics: Cancer, Chronic diseases and conditions, Health promotion and disease prevention, Healthcare access, Public health, Rural statistics and demographics, Women
  
• Rural Access to Infusion Services: A Geographic Analysis of Service Availability
  Infusion services are increasingly used to treat cancer and other chronic conditions, yet rural access remains poorly understood. This project will examine where rural and urban Medicare beneficiaries receive infusion services and quantify rural travel burden, including distance and travel time, across infusion types and settings.
  Research center: WWAMI Rural Health Research Center
  Topics: Aging, Cancer, Health services, Healthcare access, Medicare, Transportation