# CCSG Supplement: Assessing Facilitators and Barriers to Implementation of the National Survivorship Care Standards in Rural Health Systems

> **NIH NIH P30** · FRED HUTCHINSON CANCER CENTER · 2024 · $100,000

## Abstract

PROJECT SUMMARY/ABSTRACT
This application s being submitted in response to the Notice of Special Interest (NOSI) identified
as NOT-CA-24-041. There are more than 18 million cancer survivors living in the U.S., and
approximately 20% of these live in rural communities. Rural populations experience significant
barriers to healthcare access and there are persistent disparities in survivorship outcomes for
rural cancer survivors. Survivorship care is complex and requires coordination across multiple
domains and specialties. Though past research to improve survivorship outcomes has focused
on patient and provider-level interventions such as treatment summaries and survivorship care
plans, these approaches remain under-utilized and have had lower than expected impact. The
recently released National Standards for Cancer Survivorship Care (NSCSC) guide health
systems in the design of policies, processes, and assessments to ensure high quality,
accessible care for all cancer survivors. The overall goal of this study is to assess facilitators
and barriers to NSCSC implementation in rural health systems in Washington state. To achieve
this goal, we will partner with four rural health systems in Washington state to conduct semi-
structured interviews with key informants, such as clinicians (e.g. primary care providers,
oncologists), leaders (e.g. medical directors, CEOs), clinical staff (e.g. nurses, behavioral health
providers), and non-clinical staff (e.g. health information technology staff, patient navigators).
Rural health system partners will be identified and engaged through relationships with the Fred
Hutch Cancer Center Office of Community Outreach and Engagement and the WWAMI region
Practice and Research Network. The study is guided by the Health Equity Implementation
Framework (HEIF), which is an implementation science framework that integrates internal and
external contextual factors with domains that influence health equity to ensure comprehensive
identification of facilitators and barriers. Our team, comprised of an experienced rural health
cancer control researcher and qualitative research scientist has demonstrated expertise in rural
health system engagement, qualitative research methods, and implementation science. The
findings will guide design of strategies to support NSCSC implementation in rural health
systems and will be critical in addressing rural cancer survivorship health disparities.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 11099023
- **Project number:** 3P30CA015704-49S4
- **Recipient organization:** FRED HUTCHINSON CANCER CENTER
- **Principal Investigator:** Thomas James Lynch
- **Activity code:** P30 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2024
- **Award amount:** $100,000
- **Award type:** 3
- **Project period:** 2024-01-01 → 2024-12-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/11099023

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 11099023, CCSG Supplement: Assessing Facilitators and Barriers to Implementation of the National Survivorship Care Standards in Rural Health Systems (3P30CA015704-49S4). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-23 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/11099023. Licensed CC0.

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