#USA #Rockville #Lung Cancer #ACCC Initiative #Appalachian Health

ACCC's Rural Appalachian Lung Cancer Screening Initiative

The Association of Cancer Care Centers (ACCC) has recently made headlines with its Rural Appalachian Lung Cancer Screening Initiative, which has seen remarkable success in increasing early lung cancer detection rates over the past two years. Launched in November 2023, this initiative aimed to address life-threatening disparities in lung cancer outcomes across rural communities in Appalachia.

Since its beginning, the program has achieved over a 53% increase in screening rates. More importantly, this led to the identification of ten lung cancer cases that would have otherwise gone undetected until much later, drastically altering the trajectory of patient outcomes. As Dr. Michael Gieske, Chair of the Initiative Task Force, shared,