In September 1983, the National Cancer Institute (NCI) introduced the Community Clinical Oncology Program as a mechanism for disseminating state-of-the-art cancer treatments and patient management techniques to community oncologists and their patients.
In the decade since the Community Clinical Oncology Program has become operational, some clinical cooperative groups have encouraged CCOP physicians to join their scientific committees, to design protocols for the administration of clinical trials, and to chair clinical research studies, while others have discouraged, or given only weak support, to such participation.
These findings have several policy implications for the Community Clinical Oncology Program and for other kinds of health care strategic partnerships.
This framework is used to examine the first generation of Community Clinical Oncology Programs (CCOPs) funded by the National Cancer Institute (NCI) from 1983-1986 to coordinate clinical research activity at the local level.
Hypotheses generated from this ecological framework will be tested to identify factors that were important to the development and outcomes of the first generation of Community Clinical Oncology Programs (CCOPs), a nationwide interorganizational program funded by the National Cancer Institute (NCI).