Initial Email to Healthcare Facilities

Attachment 3a: Initial recruitment email to potential healthcare facilities

Subject Line: Invitation to Participate in Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Cancer Study

Dear [Healthcare facility POC],

We are requesting your participation in a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) study titled Disparities in Distress Screening among Lung and Ovarian Cancer Survivors. Lung and ovarian cancer survivors have low 5-year survival rates, and therefore, CDC believes it is imperative to increase the understanding of the types of psychosocial services they receive during their course of cancer treatment and follow-up care. This study will provide the CDC National Comprehensive Cancer Control Program (NCCCP) with information to inform the development of best practices, evidence-based interventions, and support for cancer institutions to achieve distress screening benchmarks. Ultimately, results from this study will serve to improve the quality of life of lung and ovarian cancer survivors.

More about the Study

Westat is under contract with CDC to assist with the design and implementation of the study, including healthcare facility recruitment. We plan to evaluate the processes related to implementing psychosocial distress screening, including providing psychosocial assessment and developing follow-up intervention plans for lung and ovarian cancer survivors.

The study will begin in the spring of 2019 with 50 healthcare facilities. We are looking for healthcare facilities that are willing to participate in this study. Westat will work with healthcare facilities to conduct a confidential and secure abstraction of Electronic Health Record (EHR) data of ovarian and lung patients and will provide ongoing technical assistance and support during the study period at no cost to the healthcare facility.

This study was informed by input from the Patient Centered Research Collaborative (PCRC), a research cooperative group comprised of oncology social workers, patient

advocates, and academic researchers.

Incentive for Healthcare facilities

This study has been approved by the American College of Surgeons (ACS) Commission on Cancer (CoC) as fulfilling requirements for Standard 4.7 Studies of Quality. Participating CoC-accredited healthcare facilities may participate for credit.

Upon completion of the study, CDC will also provide participating healthcare facilities with a free feedback report displaying their study results as well as de-identified and aggregated comparative results from all healthcare facilities in the study. Results from this study will serve as an opportunity for participating healthcare facilities to develop a more systematic understanding of the processes, facilitators, and barriers related to administering the screening. Findings may also help to identify potential disparities experienced by lung and ovarian patients that receive care at participating healthcare facilities.

Accompanying Documents

We have attached the following documents with more information about the study:

• Frequently asked questions (FAQs) about the study

• Letter(s) of Support from CDC and our partners, the American College of Surgeons (ACS) Commission on Cancer (CoC), and the Patient Centered Research Collaborative (PCRC)

Please respond to this email if you are interested in participating in this study. Please feel free to contact Theresa Famolaro or Diane Ng at [800 number] or [[email protected]] if you have any questions.

Sincerely,

Westat Recruitment Staff