American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) Quality Care Symposium
MOQC was honored to present two posters at the 2025 ASCO Quality Care Symposium in Chicago, IL, a premier event that brings together teams from across the country to advance the quality, safety, and efficiency of cancer care.
MOQC’s presentations highlighted ongoing statewide efforts to improve patient-centered oncology care in partnership with MOQC-participating practices.
- Oncology Stewardship: Biomarker Testing in Metastatic Non–Small Cell Lung Cancer: This project explores opportunities to identify variations in care and standardize processes in biomarker testing in non-small cell lung cancer through the lens of oncology stewardship, ensuring that patients receive the most effective, evidence-based treatments.
https://meetings.asco.org/abstracts-presentations/253785
- Financial Navigation: Partnering with Practices to Understand Health Barriers in Michigan Cancer Care and Build Fair, Patient-Focused Solutions: In collaboration with the Patient Advocate Foundation and Gilead Sciences, MOQC shared findings from its work to better understand and address non-medical challenges that affect access to cancer treatment. The project focused on identifying existing processes for non-medical needs screening.
https://meetings.asco.org/abstracts-presentations/254481
Pharmacists Optimizing Oncology Care Excellence in Michigan (POEM) and YesRx also presented their work at the Symposium.
- Outcomes of Pharmacist-Led Oral Anticancer Agent Management Among Community Oncology Practices: This project demonstrated how integrating clinical pharmacists within community oncology practices improves medication education, adherence, and patient outcomes while reducing treatment-related emergency visits.
https://meetings.asco.org/abstracts-presentations/254216
- Assessing Satisfaction for Participants in a Statewide Cancer Drug Repository Network: This project implemented a statewide Cancer Drug Repository Network, and the abstract highlighted its success in expanding access to cancer medications and improving work satisfaction among oncology care team members.
https://meetings.asco.org/abstracts-presentations/254030
The Symposium offered an invaluable opportunity for MOQC to engage with national experts, share strategies, and learn from other quality improvement innovators in the field. POQC’s Financial Navigation Workgroup played a vital role in shaping this work, and a special thanks goes to POQC member Joan Gargaro who represented the group and shared their impact in person.
MOQC remains committed to advancing high-quality and patient-centered cancer care—both in Michigan and beyond.
Food as Medicine Summit
The 2025 Michigan Food as Medicine Summit, was held October 7–8 in East Lansing, bringing together healthcare providers, policymakers, researchers, payers, and community leaders from across the state to advance the integration of food and nutrition into health care strategies and policies. The summit featured a keynote by Dr. Seth A. Berkowitz and offered a wide range of breakout sessions focused on evidence-based interventions, community engagement, clinical integration, and sustainable program development.
This year’s event emphasized Michigan’s leadership in piloting innovative Food as Medicine programs, collaborating with Medicaid health plans under new state provisions, and building cross-sector partnerships to address food insecurity and chronic illness. Attendees participated in interactive sessions, earned continuing education credits, and helped shape Michigan’s first unified Food as Medicine advocacy agenda.
With new policies fostering an environment for growth, and coalition-building at the forefront, the summit served as a launching pad for expanded efforts to make nutrition a foundational component of health care statewide.
MOQC was fortunate to participate in the Food as Medicine summit and highlighted their Comfort Cuisine program, a compassionate meal delivery initiative serving cancer patients and caregivers facing food insecurity across Michigan. The program offers medically tailored meals together with nutrition education and support resources to ease the burden of meal preparation during cancer treatment. Comfort Cuisine is designed to help improve well-being, support optimal nutrition intake, and address care imbalances for vulnerable patients through partnerships with practices statewide and Mom’s Meals, enhancing food access and empowering participants with knowledge for recovery.
JADPRO Live 2025
The Michigan Oncology Quality Consortium (MOQC), in partnership with the Patient Advocate Foundation (PAF), was proud to present our work at JADPRO Live 2025, a national conference focused on the role of advanced practitioners in oncology. This annual meeting brings together nurse practitioners, physician assistants, pharmacists, and other advanced practice providers to advance collaborative, evidence-based, and patient-centered cancer care.
- Non-Medical Needs Screening in Oncology: Results from a National Insight-Gathering with Patients: This abstract shared findings from a nationwide survey conducted to identify patient perspectives on how non-medical needs, such as financial strain, food insecurity, and transportation, are discussed and documented in oncology settings.
Insights from 495 cancer patients across the U.S. revealed gaps in communication, inconsistent documentation, and a strong desire for more coordinated, sensitive approaches to addressing non-medical needs in clinical care. The findings emphasized the importance of training all members of the care team, clinical and non-clinical, to engage patients in meaningful, supportive conversations.
Tammy Cedo, a representative of POQC’s Financial Navigation Workgroup who helped shape this work, attended JADPRO Live with MOQC coordinating center members to represent the voices of patients and caregivers.
CAPC MOQC Palliative Care Certificate Program
The CAPC MOQC Palliative Care Certificate Program, developed in partnership with the Center to Advance Palliative Care, is well underway. Cohort 1 includes 15 clinicians participating in monthly modules on key aspects of palliative care. After a brief summer pause to apply their learning, sessions resumed in October and will continue through year-end.
Cohort 2 will launch in March 2026, with applications opening in January. This next group will include APPs from MOQC practices and clinicians from tribal communities and federally qualified health centers (FQHCs). Please start thinking about who might want to participate in this program! If you can help us with outreach efforts to tribal clinics and FQHCs, please email nsimon@moqc.org. The proposed timeline for Cohort 2 is below:
Cohort 3, planned for 2027, will expand to a truly interdisciplinary group, potentially including nurses, social workers, pharmacists, and chaplains, continuing our shared mission to build capacity and strengthen access to quality palliative care across Michigan.