Applications are now open on and must be submitted by June 29, 2022 at 11:59PM CT. Please see below for the dates of the program:
Session #1: September 23-24, 2022 - Washington,DC - Omni Shoreham
Session #2: January 19-20, 2023 - Virtual
Session #3: March 29, 2023 - Phoenix, AZ - Phoenix Convention Center
Why should I participate?
ASCO’s Quality Training Program (QTP) is a well-established 6-month data-driven course in quality improvement for oncology providers who need to measure performance, investigate quality and safety issues, and implement change. The course faculty are quality improvement specialists with oncology experience. Pharmacists are key members of the cancer team who often lead efforts to enhance quality of care for cancer patients - participation in the program is well matched to their practice and professional growth. This course is designed for interdisciplinary teams of 2 to 3 practitioners in a practice with a HOPA pharmacist leading the team.
How is this program different than the 1-day ASCO QTP workshop HOPA has offered in the past?
Material covered at the 1-day workshop will serve as a launching point for more in-depth training in oncology quality improvement. Along with the 3 scheduled meeting dates within this program, ongoing mentorship/training is provided to take a project from its inception to completion. Prior 1-day workshop participation is not required to participate in the 6-month program.
How is participation in the HOPA-ASCO QTP program different than ASCO’s QTP programming?
The course is no different than that offered by ASCO. In fact, faculty and structure are the same. HOPA is sponsoring this program to offset the cost of participation for HOPA members and to allow HOPA pharmacist members to serve as team leads at their sites.
Why is HOPA supporting this program?
HOPA recognizes the interest of its members in expanding their knowledge of oncology quality improvement. HOPA is also mindful that funding opportunities for its members to participate in the program may be limited. Therefore, HOPA has partnered with ASCO to fund the majority of this programming for its members.
Participating in HOPA-ASCO QTP
What is the time commitment?
Participants are expected to attend 5 full days of training via 3 sessions (2 in person and 1 virtual) over a 6-month period. Program participation/commitment will begin once the team has been accepted into the program, and it is likely that baseline data will need to be collected for the team’s problem statement prior to the first session. Program commitment will end when assessment of QI work is complete, typically at 6-9 months. Interdisciplinary teams will convene between sessions to address and meet project milestones. Teams should expect to spend 2 or more hours per week on the project throughout the course.
What skills are important for a team lead?
Team leads will need to be a HOPA Pharmacist member to participate in this program. Leads should have support of their administration to commit time to the identified project (note: application requires a letter of support). In addition, leads should be knowledgeable of the content matter for the project, have strong organizational and communication skills, and be adept at leading a team.
How do I select appropriate team members?
Participants will attend the sessions in interdisciplinary teams (up to 3 team members per session). Depending on the problem identified, teams may be larger and team members may include physicians, nurses, pharmacists, practice administrators, data analysts, and/or quality specialists. Identification of a project sponsor is important. The sponsor typically does not attend the courses but supports the team by removing obstacles and providing needed resources at the site. The sponsor is typically an administrative or physician lead at the site.
How will teams be selected?
HOPA will support 10 teams for participation beginning Fall 2022. Six of the 10 teams will have problem statements that focus on improving care of patients taking oral anticancer agents. Site specific support of participation with the identification of a team sponsor is integral for participation.
Are there additional requirements for the teams focusing on improvement of patients receiving OAAs?
HOPA’s Oral Chemotherapy Collaborative (OCC) is co-hosting this programming in an effort to test resources/tools used in improving the care of patients receiving OAAs. Upon acceptance in the program, teams with a designated focus on OAAs will agree to submit pre- and post-data related to outcomes of their OAA programming to enhance HOPA’s OCC resources and to help inform/guide the creation of an OAA Dashboard. No PHI will be shared. HOPA will provide a Data Use Agreement for each site for participation once accepted in the program. Contact This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. if you have any questions about this agreement or data sharing..
When will I hear if I’m selected to participate in the program?
Applicants will be notified by early July 2022 if they’ve been selected to participate in the program.
Are continuing education credits available for participating in the program?
No, there are no ACPE or BCOP credits available for participating in the program.
Problem Statement and Project Scope
What are examples of problem statements?
- Between June and December 2019, hematology-oncology patients admitted for elective chemotherapy at University Hospital had a median delay of 10 hours to initiate chemotherapy infusion from time of admission. This contributes to increased cost to the healthcare system and patient dissatisfaction.
- On average during August through December 2019, only 62% of patients at University Cancer Center prescribed new oral chemotherapy signed an Informed Consent prior to beginning therapy. Lack of compliance in providing informed consent leads to opportunities related to regulatory guidance for the Medical Oncology clinic and compromises patient safety and autonomy.
- Documentation of patient adherence on oral chemotherapy was only 13 percent from June to December 2019, leading to decreased patient follow up and provider burnout due to high volume of email reminders for documentation.
How to select a project
Selection of an improvement project for the Quality Training Program should consider these three levels of projects:
- Small, discrete tasks that need to be completed fall into the category of ‘just-do-it’ and may not be a good improvement project. Most people will perform a job well if they know how to perform the function, understand they are accountable, and there are consequences of not completing the task.
- Large, complex projects such as IT implementations and practice transformation are likely to require extensive planning and resources and will take longer than 6 months to complete, so these are not good choices for the Quality Training Program.
- Problems in practice where the cause is not known might be a good potential project for the Quality Training Program. Here are some examples:
- 30-day readmissions are 30% and comparable benchmarks are 20%
- 40.4% of patients with solid tumors admitted to the ICU died with advanced stage disease.
- Patients admitted for scheduled chemotherapy average 7 hours between arriving on the inpatient unit and starting chemotherapy.
Each of these projects requires an analysis of causes, collection of data, and a multidisciplinary team to improve the process. These requirements are the fundamentals of the Quality Training Program.
What is an appropriate scope for a quality training program project?
Not too large: Often a project team starts with a goal to improve a process for the entire practice and later reduces the scope to that only a specific disease type or some subset of the full patient population. Starting small enables a project team to test and refine an idea before rolling it out to the entire practice. Later, the intervention can spread to the rest of the practice.
Not too small: Do not set the scope to a narrow population with a project to reduce or eliminate rare events. For example, if the scope of the intervention is limited to solid-tumor lung cancer patients for the project of reducing patients who die in the ICU, possibly not enough patients would be seen in a week or a month to fully assess the results of the intervention.
Just right: The Quality Training Program improvement phase is typically 10-14 weeks (between Session 2 and Session 3). Within that time, teams should plan and execute at least one, and possibly two or three tests of change, and each test of change should evaluate at least 20 patients. A test of change will take 2-4 weeks, so scope should be broad enough to have about 20 patients during that period.
The Improvement Coach assigned to the project team can help determine the appropriate project scope.
Payment Policies
- Full payment of the program fee ($1,899 per team) is required for each site that participates
- Please contact This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. if your institution is unable to pay this fee.
- Flight and lodging for up to 3 members/participating team will be provided by HOPA for the 2 in-person sessions. Additional incidentals are not included.
- Payment of fees are not refundable or transferrable
- Payment of fees is made after acceptance into the program and before the first in-person learning session.
- Invoices will be sent at the same time applicants are notified of their acceptance in the program.
Supporting Materials
Please use this Letter of Support Template when submitting your application.
Questions?
See ASCO’s QTP information at https://practice.asco.org/quality-improvement/quality-programs/quality-training-program
or
Contact This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.