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FY27 Survivorship Grants

Instructions & Application Purpose The Iowa Department of Health and Human Services (Iowa HHS) and the Iowa Cancer Consortium (the Consortium) anticipate receiving funding from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) for the following activities: Wellness and Social Support Among Cancer Survivors – Partner to increase support networks that offer group psychosocial support…

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Chapter 1

Identify and eliminate health disparities. Health equity is when everyone has an equal opportunity to be as healthy as possible. When applied to cancer, equity means everyone has an equal opportunity to prevent cancer, detect cancers early, and receive treatment and follow-up as soon as possible. Unfortunately, many Iowans experience challenges to make healthy choices…

Introduction

Two in five Iowans will be diagnosed with cancer in their lifetime. Cancer is a complex and costly disease, and addressing it is difficult to do alone. The Iowa Cancer Consortium helps Iowans develop partnerships, find funding, and build skills and knowledge to reduce the burden of cancer. Learn more about becoming a member at…

Priority 1

Strategy A: Increase diversity and engagement of Iowa Cancer Consortium members and partners. Action Steps: Recruit members and partners representing diverse backgrounds and viewpoints including racial and ethnic minorities, tribal nations, the LGBTQ+ community, behavioral health organizations and coalitions or individuals representing Iowans with physical and/or cognitive disabilities. Ensure geographic representation across the state, including…

Priority 2

Strategy A: Promote access to comprehensive health insurance coverage. Action Steps: Ensure Iowans can identify a primary care provider. Encourage all Iowans to schedule schedule annual wellness visits with their primary care provider to discuss prevention strategies and deliver recommended clinical preventive services. Link Iowans to public and private insurance plans for adults, including Iowa…

Priority 3

Strategy A: Collect, examine, and share data on cancer health disparities. Action Steps: Engage members from underrepresented communities to lead or advise on health data collection and sharing. Track populations through existing data collections with the highest cancer morbidity and mortality rates based on factors such as income, race, ethnicity, primary language, geography, and other…

Priority 4

Strategy A: Develop educational efforts and career pathways in oncology-related fields and jobs. Action Steps: Support training programs and student experiences to develop future oncology professionals. Develop lessons for K-12 students to be exposed to careers in oncology and public health. Establish mentorship opportunities to match underrepresented health professionals and researchers with underrepresented students and…

Chapter 2

Eliminate preventable cancers. While some risk factors such as age or genetic risk cannot be changed, other risk factors such as health behaviors can be modified to lower risk and prevent disease. These include maintaining a healthy lifestyle, avoiding exposure to known cancer-causing substances, and taking medicines or receiving vaccines to prevent cancer from occuring3.…

Priority 1

Note: Within this section, “commercial tobacco” refers to harmful products which are made and sold by tobacco companies. It does not include “traditional tobacco” used by Indigenous groups for religious or ceremonial purposes. Strategy A: Prevent initiation of tobacco and nicotine use, especially among youth and young adults. Action Steps: Increase the percentage of middle…

Priority 2

Note: While the terms “obesity” and “obese” are commonly used in medical and public health data, the Iowa Cancer Consortium recognizes that the terms may be stigmatizing and may not be the most useful public health measure for reducing obesity and improving health (source). Strategy A: Create environments that support physical activity. Action Steps: Educate…

Priority 3

Strategy A: Educate the public on the association between alcohol and cancer. Action Steps: Educate the public on the association between alcohol and cancer (source). Promote health care provider education and training on how excessive alcohol use disproportionately impacts certain populations, and is a risk factor for cancer and other chronic conditions later in life.…

Priority 4

Strategy A: Increase public awareness and knowledge of vaccines proven to reduce the risk of cancer and protect cancer patients from vaccine preventable diseases. Action Steps: Create culturally relevant and accessible education campaigns to inform the public on the value of the HPV and Hepatitis vaccines as a tool for cancer prevention. Work with local…

Priority 5

Strategy A: Increase education and awareness of the relationship between hepatitis C and cancer. Action Steps: Educate health providers, patients, and their families about hepatitis C and testing recommendations (source). Encourage health systems to utilize evidence-based strategies, such as system-based patient reminder tools, to identify patients recommended for HCV testing. Educate policy makers on evidence-based…

Priority 6

Strategy A: Increase awareness of the connection between environmental carcinogens and cancer risk. Action Steps: Educate the public, health care providers, public health officials, schools, property owners, property managers, and policymakers about the link between environmental carcinogens of concern in Iowa and negative health impacts, specifically polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS); arsenic; and nitrates. Develop an awareness…

Chapter 3

Promote the benefits of screening tests to ensure early diagnosis. When cancer is diagnosed early, a patient’s treatment is often more effective and longer survival is more likely. In fact, there are some cancer screening tests that have the ability to detect and remove cells that have the ability to turn into cancer (i.e. a…

Priority 7

Strategy A: Increase awareness and research around the connection between radon and cancer risk. Action Steps: Educate the public, health care providers, public health officials, school administrators, property owners, property managers and policymakers about radon and its link to lung cancer. Encourage home builders and realtors to educate clients regarding radon, cancer risk, testing, and…

Priority 1

Strategy A: Develop public awareness campaigns designed to reach communities and populations with the greatest need for cancer screening. Action Steps: Create public awareness campaigns on cancer screening recommendations, including the ways a persons family cancer history may change those recommendations. Ensure educational materials and decision tools about recommended cancer screenings are age, literacy, and…

Priority 8

Strategy A: Increase opportunities for sun protection in outdoor settings. Action Steps: Increase availability and use of shade structures in outdoor settings, including schools, worksites, and recreational sites. Educate decision-makers about evidence-based policies to reduce exposure to UV radiation including use of shade structures and providing SPF 15 or higher sunscreen in both public and…

Priority 2

Strategy A: Encourage health systems to identify or develop quality improvement metrics and processes to improve cancer screening rates and diagnostic care. Action Steps: Develop quality improvement metrics to improve cancer screening rates and timely diagnostic referral. Foster a clinic environment which includes tracking and sharing of quality improvement goals and celebrating successes. Identify, recognize,…

Priority 3

Strategy A: Take steps to increase patient access to cancer screening through policy change. Action Steps: Advocate for government and commercial payers to cover the cancer screening process, with no out-of-pocket burden to patients. Monitor the introduction and passage of state/federal policy involving cancer screening, including attempts to address loopholes in coverage and costs associated…

Priority 4

Strategy A: Educate providers and patients about assessing genetic cancer risk. Action Steps: Offer free or low-cost continuing education opportunities for health providers about genetic risk assessments and counseling – including recommending an initial cancer risk assessment and if needed, how to refer patients to a qualified cancer genetic counselor. Create a public education campaign…

Priority 5

A Note from the Iowa Cancer Consortium: At this time, there is no screening test for ovarian cancer. However, the Iowa Cancer Plan contains best-practice guidance for the early-detection of some ovarian cancers.  While some of the action steps and data measures refer to “women”, the Iowa Cancer Consortium understands that not everyone with internal reproductive…

Priority 6

Strategy A: Develop new methods to detect cancers, particularly for those cancers where no effective screening tests currently exist. Action Steps: Conduct rigorous clinical trials to capture evidence about the benefits and harms of novel cancer detection tests. Develop methods to identify precancerous cells and eliminate them while minimizing side effects.

Chapter 4

Reduce barriers to care, promote evidence-based practices, and encourage participation in clinical trials. When cancer is found, an individual’s survival and quality of life can depend on the availability of timely, quality treatment. The Institute of Medicine have identified six components of high-quality cancer care, including the following: A system that supports all patients to…

Priority 1

Strategy A: Reduce time between diagnosis and treatment. Action Steps: Streamline coordination of care between health facilities and systems as the patient with cancer moves from screening to treatment. Reduce barriers within the healthcare system, such as insurance prior authorization requirements that prevent providers from recommending treatments, timely imaging, genetic and molecular lab testing, and…

Priority 2

Strategy A: Educate providers and patients about biomarker testing in cancer care. Action Steps: Educate policymakers and the public about biomarker testing. Educate health care providers about current biomarker testing guidelines. Strategy B: Support insurance coverage and timely access to biomarker testing. Action Steps: Support coverage of National Comprehensive Cancer Network® (NCCN®) guideline-indicated biomarker testing…

Priority 3

Strategy A: Streamline and increase accessibility of clinical support services. Action Steps: Adopt distress/symptom assessment tools and workflow models that identify the physical, social, psychological, and spiritual needs of patients throughout their cancer treatment (source). Develop systems that make support services available to all cancer patients and survivors (source). Encourage health systems to have supportive…

Priority 4

Strategy A: Increase awareness of the importance of advance care planning. Action Steps: Increase public awareness about the importance of advance care planning conversations (source). Provide patient and family education on the importance of advanced care planning. Provide culturally and linguistically appropriate resources on advanced care planning for providers, cancer patients, and their families (source).…

Priority 5

Strategy A: Increase insurance coverage for non-clinical support services for survivors and caregivers. Action Steps: Educate health insurance companies on the needs for and benefits of non-clinical support services (source). Increase insurance coverage and availability of financial navigators, patient navigators, and other support services (source). Educate policymakers on the needs for and benefits of non-clinical…

Priority 6

Strategy A: Develop public awareness campaigns to build support for cancer-related research. Action Steps: Support all types of cancer research, including basic, translational, clinical, and population research. Align cancer research initiatives to promote equity in care, elevate the voice and power of the community in research, address bias, and build empathy in care. Develop and…

Priority 7

Strategy A: Educate the public about palliative care. Action Steps: Create a public awareness campaign to inform the public on the benefits of palliative care, emphasizing its importance beyond end-of-life care (source). Educate providers, patients, and caregivers that palliative care is also available for symptom relief during treatment, not just at end-of-life (source). Provide targeted,…

Priority 8

Strategy A: Educate Iowans about childhood cancer and methods to support patients/families. Action Steps: Provide educational opportunities for community members focused on childhood cancer (including Iowa cancer incidence/mortality data, research, and ways to best support patients and their families. Offer free or low-cost educational sessions for school administrators, teachers, support staff, and students on how…

Priority 9

Strategy A: Educate Iowans about AYA cancers and methods to support patients/families. Action Steps: Provide educational opportunities for community members focused on AYA cancers (including Iowa cancer incidence/mortality data, research, and ways to best support patients and their families. Offer free or low-cost educational sessions for school administrators, teachers, support staff, and students on how…

Chapter 5

Ensure resources to optimize quality of life for cancer survivors and their families. The American Cancer Society uses the term “cancer survivor” to refer to anyone who has ever been diagnosed with cancer no matter where they are in the course of their disease. Continued scientific advances in screening and treatment have allowed those diagnosed…

Priority 10

Action Steps: Educate patients what to do ‘in case of emergency’ in the event of a natural disaster or emergency (i.e. flooding, tornado, derecho, pandemic). Examples of information to include here and here. Provide patients with a wallet card with space for critical treatment information that they can bring to a provider during a disaster.…

Priority 1

Strategy A: Educate policymakers and the public about key issues in cancer survivorship. Action Steps: Health care providers, patient advocates, and other stakeholders should work to raise awareness of the needs of cancer survivors, establish cancer survivorship as a distinct phase of cancer care, and act to ensure the delivery of appropriate survivorship care (NAM,…

Priority 2

Strategy A: Tailor cancer risk reduction messages and activities to meet the unique needs of cancer survivors. Action Steps: Educate survivors on the importance of regular check-ups with their primary care provider for overall health (source). Provide access to primary and secondary prevention services (e.g., smoking cessation, cancer screening) (NAM, 2006). Educate survivors and caregivers…

Priority 3

Strategy A: Provide non-clinical services to cancer survivors to support their quality of life. Action Steps: Increase patient and caregiver access to psychosocial, wellness, financial, sexual, spiritual, rehabilitation and community-based support services. Implement collaborative care models for the management of distress and/or psychiatric disorders (source). Helping cancer survivors who live in rural areas cope with…

Priority 4

Strategy A: Educate the public and health providers about the long-term effects of childhood cancer treatment and the unique needs of survivors. Action Steps: Cancer providers, advocacy organizations, NCI, and other government agencies should continue to educate employers and the public about the successes achieved in cancer treatment, the improved prospects for survival, and the…

Priority 5

Strategy A: Increase awareness of the benefits of palliative care at the end of life. Action Steps: Create a public awareness campaign to inform the public about the benefits of palliative care and hospice care, and the differences between them. Educate health care providers, patients, caregivers and the community on the benefits of starting palliative…

Protected: FY26 Iowa Cancer Plan Implementation Grant Applications

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