There were two news pieces on cancer yesterday that both tell a story about cancer, but from very different perspectives.

Katie Couric aired a report on the CBS Evening News about the progress on the War on Cancer. From a 40,000 foot perspective, it was a good overview. So much progress has been made since the national War on Cancer was declared close to 40 years ago; however, there is so much further to go. The odds are that 1 in 2 males and 1 in 3 females will have cancer sometime between birth and death, according to the American Cancer Society. With all the progress we have made in constructing the world’s best cancer care delivery system in this country, cancer still takes the life of one American every minute.

The contrast to this academic view of the War on Cancer is what is happening in the trenches every day. Dr. Robert Hermann, a medical oncologist from Marietta, Georgia and COA Secretary, wrote a piece on cancer care that appears in the Atlanta Journal Constitution. It provides an excellent overview of the reality faced by community oncology practices. With the continuous cuts to cancer care, it sometimes feels that there is a War on Cancer CARE being waged.

Dr. Hermann’s opinion piece and Katie Couric’s report can be accessed on the COA website at http://www.communityoncology.org under Breaking News.

Petition Update…

As a quick update, the Stop Cancer Care Cuts Petition has close to 25,000 signers. More practices are faxing in signed paper petitions that they have placed in their waiting rooms using the materials on the COA website. Please help to continue to get the word out to sign the petition and to spread the word about it. In this very charged election year, this petition initiative has taken on greater importance.

In related news, join us on the COA Facebook page and become a fan. Go to http://www.facebook.com/CommunityOncologyAlliance to access.

Health Care Reform Update…

The President devoted only 6-7 minutes out of a 75 minute state of the union address to health care reform. Behind the scenes, the Democratic leadership is scrambling to figure out a course of action. They are very much pursuing the option of ramming the Senate bill through the House and using the budget reconciliation process to modify certain objectionable provisions of the Senate bill. They are also looking at passing a series of smaller bills, starting off with health insurance reform. As we wrote in a previous email, regardless of the outcome of any health care reform legislation, health care reform is here.

Unfortunately, the general Medicare payment cut of 21.2% still looms on March 1st. We are working on this, as is the entire medical community. Unfortunately, it is caught up in the politics of health care reform right now.

More on health care reform during several different forums at the Community Oncology Conference next week in Scottsdale, Arizona on February 5-6th.