News Details

NCCN 11th Annual Conference: Clinical Practice Guidelines in Oncology & Quality Cancer Care™

Featured sessions include oncology leaders’ roundtable, Cancer Care in the 21st Century — Reality & Promise, moderated by Sam Donaldson

JENKINTOWN, Pa., October 25, 2005 — An all-star panel of oncology and health care leaders discussing coming advances and improvements in cancer care is but one attraction of the National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN) 11th Annual Conference: Clinical Practice Guidelines & Quality Cancer Care™. Scheduled for March 8-12, 2006, at The Westin Diplomat in Hollywood, Florida, the conference covers new perspectives on quality issues in cancer care, presentations of NCCN Clinical Practice Guidelines in Oncology™ (the standard for clinical policy in oncology), sessions on targeted therapies, panel discussions on the business of oncology and interactive case presentations. A special roundtable program will take place on Thursday, March 9, 2006 at 8:00 am featuring ABC News veteran and anchor Sam Donaldson as moderator. The discussion, entitled Cancer Care in the 21st Century – Reality and Promise, features these expert panelists:

Martin D. Abeloff, MD, Director, The Sidney Kimmel Comprehensive Cancer Center at Johns Hopkins
Edward J. Benz, Jr., MD, President, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute
David C. Hohn, MD, President and CEO, Roswell Park Cancer Institute
Senator Connie Mack, Chairman, H. Lee Moffitt Cancer Center & Research Institute at the University of South Florida
Beryl McCormick, MD, Clinical Director, Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center
John Mendelsohn, MD, President, The University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center
Andrew C. von Eschenbach, MD, Acting FDA Commissioner
Robert C. Young, MD, President, Fox Chase Cancer Center

“The NCCN Conference is becoming central to applying the NCCN Guidelines as a foundation for practicing in an evolving cancer care system that will be involved in public reporting of performance data and pay- for- performance paradigms,” said William T. McGivney, PhD, Chief Executive Officer of NCCN. “NCCN Guidelines constitute a focal point for public and private payors and others developing and applying quality measures in these paradigms; and all based upon NCCN Guideline recommendations.”

Over 1,000 medical professionals are expected to attend. Visit www.nccn.org to register or to view a detailed conference agenda.

The National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN), a nonprofit alliance of 19 of the world’s leading cancer centers, is dedicated to improving the quality, effectiveness, and efficiency of oncology practice so patients can live better lives. Through the leadership and expertise of clinical professionals at NCCN member institutions, NCCN develops resources that present valuable information to the numerous stakeholders throughout the health care delivery system. As the arbiter of high-quality cancer care, NCCN emphasizes the importance of and promotes continuous quality improvement, creating and publishing clinical practice guidelines appropriate for use by patients, clinicians, and other health care decision-makers. NCCN programs include: Clinical Practice Guidelines in Oncology™, the NCCN Drugs & Biologics Compendium™, Treatment Guidelines for Patients, the Journal of the National Comprehensive Cancer Network (JNCCN), Cancer Resource Lines for Leukemia and Multiple Myeloma, educational conferences and symposia for clinicians, the Oncology Outcomes Database Project, the NCCN Oncology Research Program, NCCN Cancer Case Manager™, and collaborations with managed care organizations.