Assessing the Quality of Cancer Care: An Approach to Measurement in Georgia describes and recommends a set of 52 quality indicators with which the Georgia Cancer Coalition can measure Georgia's progress in improving cancer care and reducing the number of cancer cases and deaths. The indicators apply to cancer prevention, early detection, diagnosis, and treatment and focus specifically on breast, colorectal, prostate, and lung cancers.
This is the first such collection of indicators that has been developed to enable a state to gauge the progress of its programs in reducing the burden of cancer, and it could fulfill much of the untapped potential of cancer prevention and care by closing the gap between what is known and what is practiced in the everyday routines of the home, workplace, and physicians' offices.
Importantly, while the quality measures were developed for Georgia, they also are suited to other states that choose to develop programs aimed at improving cancer prevention and care for their citizens, and they could serve as a model to devise similar indicators for other diseases.