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patient and her father
Photo by Rhoda Baer
The National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN) has developed a new tool to accompany its clinical practice guidelines.
The tool—known as NCCN Evidence Blocks™—is designed to provide additional information about guideline recommendations and help inform treatment decisions.
NCCN has already added Evidence Blocks to its guidelines for chronic myelogenous leukemia and multiple myeloma.
The organization hopes to have Evidence Blocks for all of its guidelines by early 2017.
The Evidence Blocks provide a visual representation of 5 key value measures pertaining to guideline recommendations:
- Efficacy of treatment regimens
- Safety of regimens
- Quality and quantity of evidence supporting regimens
- Consistency of evidence supporting regimens
- Affordability of regimens. (This represents an estimate of overall total cost of a therapy, including but not limited to acquisition, administration, inpatient vs outpatient care, supportive care, infusions, toxicity monitoring, antiemetics and growth factors, and hospitalization.)
The Evidence Blocks are graphics of actual blocks that consist of 25 small squares. So each block has 5 rows and 5 columns.
Each of the 5 value measures—efficacy, safety, etc.—has a dedicated column within an Evidence Block, and each row of the Evidence Block represents a rating on a scale of 1 to 5. A score of 1 is unfavorable and a score of 5 is most favorable.
The rating of each value measure is shown by filling in the squares of the dedicated column—such as efficacy—up to the row that represents its assigned score—such as 4.
For example:
NCCN hopes this visual rating system will help patients and their physicians identify the optimal treatment based on clinical and economic considerations that are of the most value to the patient.
“Some patients will want an emerging therapy even with limited data,” said Robert W. Carlson, MD, chief executive officer of NCCN.
“Others will be most concerned about the expected side effects of the treatment indicated in the safety column. Still others may be very sensitive to cost. By considering the attributes of the range of possible therapies, the healthcare provider and the patient can discuss the benefits and drawbacks of each option and come to a decision most acceptable to the individual.”
By the end of 2015, NCCN expects to publish NCCN Evidence Blocks for systemic therapies (not surgery or radiation therapy) in the NCCN guidelines for breast, colon, non-small cell lung, and rectal cancers.
NCCN Evidence Blocks for systemic therapies are expected to be contained within the complete library of NCCN guidelines by the end of 2016.
In the near term, NCCN will continue to publish 2 sets of guidelines: those including NCCN Evidence Blocks and those without. The Evidence Blocks are not currently published in the NCCN Guidelines for Patients® and are intended for use in the US only.
For more information about NCCN Evidence Blocks, visit NCCN.org/EvidenceBlocks. 
patient and her father
Photo by Rhoda Baer
The National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN) has developed a new tool to accompany its clinical practice guidelines.
The tool—known as NCCN Evidence Blocks™—is designed to provide additional information about guideline recommendations and help inform treatment decisions.
NCCN has already added Evidence Blocks to its guidelines for chronic myelogenous leukemia and multiple myeloma.
The organization hopes to have Evidence Blocks for all of its guidelines by early 2017.
The Evidence Blocks provide a visual representation of 5 key value measures pertaining to guideline recommendations:
- Efficacy of treatment regimens
- Safety of regimens
- Quality and quantity of evidence supporting regimens
- Consistency of evidence supporting regimens
- Affordability of regimens. (This represents an estimate of overall total cost of a therapy, including but not limited to acquisition, administration, inpatient vs outpatient care, supportive care, infusions, toxicity monitoring, antiemetics and growth factors, and hospitalization.)
The Evidence Blocks are graphics of actual blocks that consist of 25 small squares. So each block has 5 rows and 5 columns.
Each of the 5 value measures—efficacy, safety, etc.—has a dedicated column within an Evidence Block, and each row of the Evidence Block represents a rating on a scale of 1 to 5. A score of 1 is unfavorable and a score of 5 is most favorable.
The rating of each value measure is shown by filling in the squares of the dedicated column—such as efficacy—up to the row that represents its assigned score—such as 4.
For example:
NCCN hopes this visual rating system will help patients and their physicians identify the optimal treatment based on clinical and economic considerations that are of the most value to the patient.
“Some patients will want an emerging therapy even with limited data,” said Robert W. Carlson, MD, chief executive officer of NCCN.
“Others will be most concerned about the expected side effects of the treatment indicated in the safety column. Still others may be very sensitive to cost. By considering the attributes of the range of possible therapies, the healthcare provider and the patient can discuss the benefits and drawbacks of each option and come to a decision most acceptable to the individual.”
By the end of 2015, NCCN expects to publish NCCN Evidence Blocks for systemic therapies (not surgery or radiation therapy) in the NCCN guidelines for breast, colon, non-small cell lung, and rectal cancers.
NCCN Evidence Blocks for systemic therapies are expected to be contained within the complete library of NCCN guidelines by the end of 2016.
In the near term, NCCN will continue to publish 2 sets of guidelines: those including NCCN Evidence Blocks and those without. The Evidence Blocks are not currently published in the NCCN Guidelines for Patients® and are intended for use in the US only.
For more information about NCCN Evidence Blocks, visit NCCN.org/EvidenceBlocks.
patient and her father
Photo by Rhoda Baer
The National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN) has developed a new tool to accompany its clinical practice guidelines.
The tool—known as NCCN Evidence Blocks™—is designed to provide additional information about guideline recommendations and help inform treatment decisions.
NCCN has already added Evidence Blocks to its guidelines for chronic myelogenous leukemia and multiple myeloma.
The organization hopes to have Evidence Blocks for all of its guidelines by early 2017.
The Evidence Blocks provide a visual representation of 5 key value measures pertaining to guideline recommendations:
- Efficacy of treatment regimens
- Safety of regimens
- Quality and quantity of evidence supporting regimens
- Consistency of evidence supporting regimens
- Affordability of regimens. (This represents an estimate of overall total cost of a therapy, including but not limited to acquisition, administration, inpatient vs outpatient care, supportive care, infusions, toxicity monitoring, antiemetics and growth factors, and hospitalization.)
The Evidence Blocks are graphics of actual blocks that consist of 25 small squares. So each block has 5 rows and 5 columns.
Each of the 5 value measures—efficacy, safety, etc.—has a dedicated column within an Evidence Block, and each row of the Evidence Block represents a rating on a scale of 1 to 5. A score of 1 is unfavorable and a score of 5 is most favorable.
The rating of each value measure is shown by filling in the squares of the dedicated column—such as efficacy—up to the row that represents its assigned score—such as 4.
For example:
NCCN hopes this visual rating system will help patients and their physicians identify the optimal treatment based on clinical and economic considerations that are of the most value to the patient.
“Some patients will want an emerging therapy even with limited data,” said Robert W. Carlson, MD, chief executive officer of NCCN.
“Others will be most concerned about the expected side effects of the treatment indicated in the safety column. Still others may be very sensitive to cost. By considering the attributes of the range of possible therapies, the healthcare provider and the patient can discuss the benefits and drawbacks of each option and come to a decision most acceptable to the individual.”
By the end of 2015, NCCN expects to publish NCCN Evidence Blocks for systemic therapies (not surgery or radiation therapy) in the NCCN guidelines for breast, colon, non-small cell lung, and rectal cancers.
NCCN Evidence Blocks for systemic therapies are expected to be contained within the complete library of NCCN guidelines by the end of 2016.
In the near term, NCCN will continue to publish 2 sets of guidelines: those including NCCN Evidence Blocks and those without. The Evidence Blocks are not currently published in the NCCN Guidelines for Patients® and are intended for use in the US only.
For more information about NCCN Evidence Blocks, visit NCCN.org/EvidenceBlocks.