Healthcare Design - February 2019 - 7

EDITORIAL
EDITORIAL ADVISORY BOARD

Hank Adams

T H E P L AY I N G F I E L D

Cancer survival rates are on the rise, but not
everyone is benefitting. How can we improve the
odds for all? By Jennifer Kovacs Silvis

Wayne Barger
Carolyn BaRoss
Jeffrey Brand
Sam Burnette

SMITHGROUP
PERKINS+WILL

PERKINS EASTMAN

EARL S WENSSON ASSOCIATES

Sheila F. Cahnman
JUMPG ARDEN CONSULTING LLC

Thomas W. Chessum
NEW DATA shows that the incidence rate of cancer among both men and women in the U.S. has
held fairly steady, not moving much at all for
women and declining about 2 percent per year
for men between 2006 and 2015. But the cancer
death rate tells a much different and brighter
story.
In January, CA: A Cancer Journal for Clinicians, a peer-reviewed journal for the American
Cancer Society, reported that cancer deaths fell
27 percent between 1991 and 2016, resulting in
approximately 2.6 million fewer deaths. It echoes other favorable reports
in recent years detailing positive trends in survival rates, greatly due to
early detection and declines in smoking.
Looking ahead, the report anticipates that the most common cancer
diagnoses in 2019 will be breast, lung, and colorectal in women and
prostate, lung, and colorectal in men. The lifetime probability of being
diagnosed with invasive cancer is expected to be slightly higher for
men than women, at 39 and 38 percent, respectively, and this year an
estimated 6 million Americans will die from cancer.
But the most compelling piece of data concerns the disparity in these
figures when socioeconomic status is figured in.
"Although the racial gap in cancer mortality is slowly narrowing, socioeconomic inequalities are widening, with residents of the poorest counties experiencing an increasingly disproportionate burden of the most
preventable cancers," the paper states. For example, compared with the
most affluent counties in the U.S., mortality rates in the poorest counties
were twice as high for cervical cancer in women and 40 percent higher for
lung and liver cancers in men.
So what's the answer? According to the report's authors, it's access to care.
They note that low-hanging fruit such as local cancer control efforts
provided via basic healthcare and smoking cessation, healthy living, and
cancer screening programs will do wonders. "A broader application of
existing cancer control knowledge with an emphasis on disadvantaged
groups would undoubtedly accelerate progress against cancer," it states.
It's both troubling and inspiring to think that such simple efforts could
have such far-reaching benefits-no reinventing of the wheel is required.
As healthcare providers and their design partners continue the ongoing task of improving access to care in underserved communities, this
is an important reminder that even something with such high stakes as
cancer care doesn't necessarily require a specialty solution. Rather, a primary care site with even one exam room and some community outreach
could make a remarkable difference. 

HDR

CO ARCHITECTS

James Crispino
G ENSLER

Christine Hester Devens
Mary Frazier

AECOM

EWINGCOLE

Jocelyn Lum Frederick
HC TANG RAM DESIGN

Catherine L. Gow

F RANCIS CAUFFMAN

Natalie Miovski Hagerty
THE CHILDRE N'S HOS PITAL OF PHILADELPHIA

Laurel Harrison

STANTEC

Suzen L. Heeley
MEMORIAL SLOAN KETTERING CANCER CENTER

Scott Holmes
Walter Jones

BWBR

METROHEALTH SYSTEM

Julie Kent

TRINITY HEALTH

Bryan Langlands
Michael Lied
Jain Malkin

G BBN ARCHITECTS
J AIN MALKIN INC.

Mike McKay
Victoria Navarro

NBBJ

UW HEALTH

ADVOCATE AURORA HEALTH

Don Orndoff

KAISER PERMANENTE

Diane R.K. Osan
Chris Powers
Andrew Quirk

CANNONDESIGN

HCA HEALTHCARE

S KANSKA USA BUILDING

William D. Repichowskyj
E4H ARCHITECTURE

Kim Shinn
TLC ENGINEERING FOR ARCHITECTURE

Janet H. Sisolak
UT MD A NDERS ON CANCER CENTER

Karl R. Sonnenberg
ZIMMER GU NS UL F RASCA ARCHITECTS LLP

Kurt Spiering
Steve Stokes

HGA

G RESHAM SMITH

Jeffrey C. Stouffer

HKS INC.

Paul E. Strohm
Jocelyn Stroupe

CANNONDESIGN

Joshua A. Theodore
Travis Tyson
Gary L. Vance

HOK

LEO A DALY

CLEVELAND CLINIC
VANCE CONSULTING

FEBRUARY 2019

Healthcare Design - February 2019

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Healthcare Design - February 2019