[[{"@type":["BlogPosting"],"@id":"https:\/\/www.regionalcancercare.org\/news\/rcca-celebrating-10-years-of-cancer-care-innovation-and-multispecialty-collaboration\/#BlogPosting","@context":{"@vocab":"http:\/\/schema.org\/","kg":"http:\/\/g.co\/kg"},"url":["https:\/\/www.regionalcancercare.org\/news\/rcca-celebrating-10-years-of-cancer-care-innovation-and-multispecialty-collaboration\/","https:\/\/www.regionalcancercare.org\/news\/rcca-celebrating-10-years-of-cancer-care-innovation-and-multispecialty-collaboration\/"],"publisher":[{"@id":"https:\/\/www.regionalcancercare.org\/"}],"author":[{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/www.regionalcancercare.org\/news\/rcca-celebrating-10-years-of-cancer-care-innovation-and-multispecialty-collaboration\/#BlogPosting_author_Organization","name":"Regional Cancer Care Associates"}],"inLanguage":"en-US","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","@id":"https:\/\/www.regionalcancercare.org\/news\/rcca-celebrating-10-years-of-cancer-care-innovation-and-multispecialty-collaboration\/#BlogPosting_image_ImageObject","url":"https:\/\/www.regionalcancercare.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/GettyImages-1242485859.jpeg"}],"headline":"RCCA: Celebrating 10 Years of Cancer Care Innovation and Multispecialty Collaboration","dateModified":"2022-01-04T17:46:29+00:00","datePublished":"2021-06-04T10:31:44+00:00","articleBody":"\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tJune 4, 2021\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\nIn 2011, community-based cancer specialists were celebrating rapidly improving developments for their patients. But at the same time, the outlook for their practices was less than bright.\nThis dichotomy was due to several reasons: Costly mandates associated with health care reform, a consolidation of practices on terms dictated by large organizations that undercut community-based oncologists\u2019 autonomy and ability to provide patients effective treatments, and a shift away from fee-for-service medicine.\nThat\u2019s when hematologists and medical oncologists from 10 different New Jersey practices created Regional Cancer Care Associates, LLC, (RCCA) on Jan. 1, 2012. After a decade, RCCA has become one of the nation\u2019s largest networks of oncology specialists. It has been so successful that it now has locations in Connecticut, Maryland and Washington, DC.\n \nRCCA now has more than 20 care centers with 80 specialists who see more than 20,000 new patients each year, and who care for an additional 200,000-plus established patients.\nRCCA care centers treat patients with blood-based cancers, solid tumors and benign blood disorders including anemia. The centers also provide infusion services to individuals who take intravenous medications for a variety of non-oncologic conditions, such as multiple sclerosis, Crohn\u2019s disease, asthma and rheumatoid arthritis.\n\u201cThe success of RCCA in many ways is attributable to our providing patients and clinicians alike with what might be termed the \u2018best of both worlds,\u2019\u201d said Denis Fitzgerald, MD, a board-certified hematologist and medical oncologist who practices in RCCA\u2019s Little Silver offices and serves as RCCA board chairperson.\n\u201cMany years ago, people with cancer faced a difficult trade-off. Receiving care in their own community was far more convenient than traveling to a major academic medical center in New York City, Philadelphia, or elsewhere, but local oncology practices sometimes couldn\u2019t provide patients with access to the latest therapies, diagnostics or clinical trials,\u201d Dr. Fitzgerald said. \u201cIn establishing RCCA, we were determined to preserve and enhance the best aspects of community-based care \u2014 such as the personalized experience we offer and the close connections we have with our patients\u2019 other physicians \u2014 while accelerating the trend to make cutting-edge therapies available in the community setting, where more than 80% of cancer care is delivered. As a result of that commitment, our RCCA care centers today are able to offer patients the latest treatments, including targeted therapy and immunotherapies, while also enabling patients to enroll in clinical trials of investigational approaches.\u201d\nThe RCCA oncology network employs a similarly balanced approach to providing its cancer specialists with the benefits of both affiliation and autonomy, said Terrill Jordan, LLM, JD, the president and chief executive officer of RCCA.\n\u201cWith RCCA, medical oncologists and hematologists enjoy the advantages of scale in operating their practices and responding to the trends reshaping health care delivery, while maintaining the autonomy that comes from being part of an organization whose board is composed overwhelmingly of their fellow physicians.\u201d\nRapid Growth \u2014 And Other Markers Of Performance\nRCCA\u2019s success can be measured by several metrics, beginning with growth. In a little less than 10 years, it has become one of the nation\u2019s largest oncology-specialist networks.\n\u201cRCCA offers cancer specialists the business expertise and lean infrastructure needed to help them navigate new reimbursement methodologies, draw on real-world evidence databases, and enjoy economies of scale so that they can focus on patient care while practicing within a physician-directed organization,\u201d Jordan said. \u201cIn talking with the oncologists who have joined RCCA in recent years, and those preparing to join us in the months ahead, those organizational capabilities have been a major motivator.\u201d\nMatching operational expertise with clinical excellence is one reason RCCA was one of almost 200 practices nationwide invited to implement the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services\u2019 (CMS) Oncology Care Model (OCM). The OCM program works to enhance care for patients receiving chemotherapy, and bases reimbursement on various quality indicators.\n\u201cThe approach taken by the OCM initiative is entirely aligned with our commitment to providing value-based care, and we are honored to help develop an approach that is becoming the norm throughout oncology and all of medicine,\u201d Jordan said.\nAdditionally, RCCA consistently receives some of the nation\u2019s highest patient-satisfaction rankings in annual surveys conducted by the Community Oncology Alliance, a non-profit advocacy organization.\nAn Ongoing Priority: Collaboration With Patients\u2019 Other Physicians \nOne thing that RCCA has always excelled at \u2014 effective communication and collaboration with a patient\u2019s other physicians \u2014 has taken on a greater importance this year, and promises to be a priority in the years ahead, said Iuliana Shapira, MD, RCCA\u2019s chief medical officer.\n\u201cAs community-based cancer specialists, we always have been able to offer our patients the advantages of our practicing in the same towns and often the same hospitals as their primary care providers, cardiologists, Ob\/Gyns, urologists and other physicians,\u201d Dr. Shapira said. \u201cThe rapport we enjoy with those colleagues has facilitated ready consultations and a multidisciplinary approach to our shared patients\u2019 overall care.\u201d\nNow, she adds, as RCCA builds out the \u201concology medical home\u201d approach that it initiated a few years ago, the organization and its cancer specialists will take collaboration to the next level.\n\u201cThe concept of a \u2018medical home\u2019 originated in primary care, and reflected the need to identify and attend to the full range of a person\u2019s medical needs rather than putting the burden on the patient to navigate our fragmented health care system on his or her own,\u201d Dr. Shapira said. \u201cAs the range of services we can provide to people with cancer has expanded, RCCA has adapted this model to oncology, so that we can manage patients\u2019 needs for everything from genetic testing and counseling to diagnostic imaging, and from multi-modal treatment regimens to palliative care. While we\u2019re doing all of that within oncology, we\u2019re also working to ensure that we\u2019re attuned to patients\u2019 needs beyond oncology, and are collaborating effectively with our colleagues who are responsible for managing comorbidities so that we\u2019re optimizing patients\u2019 overall health and quality of life.\u201d\nClinical leaders at RCCA say this collaboration means extending communication to specialists who refer patients to RCCA care centers for intravenous medications for a wide array of non-oncology conditions.\nLooking Ahead \u2014 Meeting Emerging Challenges While Enhancing Patient Outcomes\nAs RCCA looks ahead to its second decade, the group finds itself able to treat a wide range of patients with diagnostics and therapies that are driving up survival rates for numerous cancers, Dr. Fitzgerald said.\n\u201cThis is an incredibly exciting time to be practicing hematology and oncology,\u201d Dr. Fitzgerald said. \u201cDiagnoses that a decade ago would have prompted referral to palliative care or hospice today can be managed as chronic conditions with which patients can expect to live for many years \u2014 and with a good quality of life. In other cases, we are pursuing outright cure for cases where that was not a realistic goal even a few years earlier. Advances in prevention, diagnosis, genomics, and therapeutics promise to accelerate this progress at a rapid pace.\u201d\nHe said that one of the greatest challenges RCCA will face will be to ensure that all people are able to benefit from these advances in cancer care. That, he said, is the mission of RCCA.\n\u201cAs we mark and move beyond our 10th anniversary, we look forward to working with our colleagues in doing the work that drew all of us to medicine in the first place \u2014 enhancing the health and lives of our patients,\u201d he said.\nRCCA: 7 facts for physicians \n80 cancer specialists at more than 20 care centers in New Jersey, Connecticut, Maryland and the Washington, DC area.Community-based immunotherapy, targeted therapy, chemotherapy and other treatment modalities, as well as diagnostics, and full array of cancer care services.Participation in hundreds of office-based clinical trials.Close communication, collaboration with other physicians in managing the overall care of their mutual patients.Consistently earns some of the highest patient-satisfaction ratings in the nation in annual surveys conducted by the Community Oncology Alliance.RCCA\u2019s medical oncologists\/hematologists also manage a wide range of benign blood disorders, including anemia and coagulopathies.RCCA care centers provide expert infusion services for patients whose neurologists, allergists, rheumatologists, pulmonologists, gastroenterologists and other physicians have prescribed intravenous medications for conditions including multiple sclerosis, asthma, and Crohn\u2019s disease, among many others.\nwe are here for you\nFor more information or to schedule an appointment, call 844-346-7222. You can also schedule an appointment by calling the RCCA location nearest you.\nRELATED ARTICLES\nRegional Cancer Care Associates is one of fewer than 200 medical practices in the country selected to participate in the Oncology Care Model (OCM); a recent Medicare initiative aimed at improving care coordination and access to and quality of care for Medicare beneficiaries undergoing chemotherapy treatment.\n\u00a9 2022 Regional Cancer Care Associates. All rights reserved.","mainEntityOfPage":"https:\/\/www.regionalcancercare.org\/news\/rcca-celebrating-10-years-of-cancer-care-innovation-and-multispecialty-collaboration\/"},{"@context":"http:\/\/schema.org","@type":"LocalBusiness","address":{"@type":"PostalAddress","streetAddress":"Corporate Office 25 Main Street, Suite 601","postalCode":"07601","addressRegion":"NJ","addressLocality":"Hackensack","addressCountry":"USA","name":"Postal Address","@id":"https:\/\/www.regionalcancercare.org\/#PostalAddress"},"logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","width":"1024","height":"468","url":"https:\/\/www.regionalcancercare.org\/wp-content\/themes\/rccah\/dist\/images\/RCCA_logo.jpg","@id":"https:\/\/www.regionalcancercare.org\/wp-content\/themes\/rccah\/dist\/images\/RCCA_logo.jpg"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.regionalcancercare.org\/wp-content\/themes\/rccah\/dist\/images\/RCCA_logo.jpg"},"contactPoint":[{"@type":"ContactPoint","contactOption":"https:\/\/www.regionalcancercare.org\/contact\/#ContactPointOption","availableLanguage":"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/English_language","areaServed":["https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/New_Jersey","https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Hackensack,_New_Jersey"],"contactType":"customer support","telephone":"+1 (844) 346-7222","email":"info@regionalcancercare.org","description":"Corporate Office Regional Cancer Care Associates 25 Main Street, Suite 601 Hackensack, NJ 07601 info@regionalcancercare.org Phone: (844) 346-7222","name":"Contact Corporate Office","image":"https:\/\/www.regionalcancercare.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/06\/RCCA_logo-300x137.jpg","url":"https:\/\/www.regionalcancercare.org\/contact\/","@id":"https:\/\/www.regionalcancercare.org\/contact\/#CorporateOffice"},{"@type":"ContactPoint","contactOption":"https:\/\/www.regionalcancercare.org\/contact\/#ContactPointOption","availableLanguage":"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/English_language","areaServed":["https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/New_Jersey","https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Hackensack,_New_Jersey"],"contactType":"customer support","telephone":"+1 (201) 510-0922","email":"msalvemini@regionalcancercare.org","description":"Media Inquiries: Mary Lou Salvemini Regional Cancer Care Associates Phone: (201) 510-0922 Email: msalvemini@regionalcancercare.org","name":"Contact Media Inquiries","image":"https:\/\/www.regionalcancercare.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/06\/RCCA_logo-300x137.jpg","url":"https:\/\/www.regionalcancercare.org\/contact\/","@id":"https:\/\/www.regionalcancercare.org\/contact\/#MediaInquiries"}],"areaServed":["https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Hackensack,_New_Jersey","https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/New_Jersey"],"additionalType":"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Treatment_of_cancer","alternateName":"RCCA","description":"Leaders in Advanced Compassionate Cancer Care. Fight cancer with leading-edge treatments, experienced skill and local caring\/convenience from one of the nation's largest networks of cancer specialists.","email":"info@regionalcancercare.org","mainEntityOfPage":"https:\/\/www.regionalcancercare.org\/","url":"https:\/\/www.regionalcancercare.org\/","sameAs":["https:\/\/twitter.com\/rgnlcancercare","https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/regionalcancercareassoc","https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/company\/10059183","https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/channel\/UCFlVzU4UvZcyXBCe9ZSvAUQ"],"telephone":"+1 (844) 346-7222","name":"Regional Cancer Care Associates","@id":"https:\/\/www.regionalcancercare.org\/"}],{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org\/","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"News","item":"https:\/\/www.regionalcancercare.org\/news\/#breadcrumbitem"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"RCCA: Celebrating 10 Years of Cancer Care Innovation and Multispecialty Collaboration","item":"https:\/\/www.regionalcancercare.org\/news\/rcca-celebrating-10-years-of-cancer-care-innovation-and-multispecialty-collaboration\/#breadcrumbitem"}]}]