Health Care Systems

The Health Services and Economics Branch supports research on how healthcare system factors affect access to and effective delivery of cancer control services. We also sponsor the development of research resources that support innovative approaches to healthcare systems research.

• The HMO Cancer Research Network, an NCI-sponsored consortium of 14 research organizations affiliated with health maintenance organizations, maintains a Data Resource Coordinating Center designed to expedite the conduct of cancer-related health services, economics, and epidemiological research in the context of traditional health maintenance organization and network systems of healthcare delivery.


• The National Survey of Colorectal Cancer Screening Practices, conducted in 2000, is a survey of health plans that collected information about their coverage of colorectal cancer screening procedures. The survey also examined colorectal cancer screening practice guidelines developed and carried out by health plans and asked about health plan programs that are designed to promote the use of colorectal cancer screening and monitor its performance.


• The Survey of Colorectal Cancer Screening Policies, Programs, and Systems in U.S. Health Plans (PDF) is a nationally representative survey of health plans post-HEDIS implementation, re-fielded by the NCI between November 2005 and April 2006. The purpose of the new survey is to determine whether and to what extent health plans have adopted or changed their coverage policies and use of guidelines and tracking systems for colorectal cancer screening since the earlier survey. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is a collaborating partner in the design and analysis of the survey.


• The NCI-sponsored Cancer Care Outcomes Research and Surveillance Consortium (CanCORS) project, a prospective study of 10,000 patients with newly diagnosed lung or colorectal cancers, will include studies of how health system factors influence appropriate processes and favorable outcomes of care.


• We also support research on healthcare system factors by making the SEER-Medicare Linked Database available to the research community. This resource includes data elements on healthcare provider and hospital characteristics and, through linkage to other data sources, information on the broader healthcare resources of local communities.

Several Funding Opportunities support research in this area.

Our bibliography of publications in the area of health care systems lists articles on studies that have examined the delivery of cancer-related healthcare services by such healthcare system factors as health insurance, type of health plan, and procedure volume.