Becker's Clinical Quality & Infection Control

29 QUALITY IMPROVEMENT & MEASUREMENT Cleveland Clinic oncologist reflects on the evolution of cancer care: 4 notes By Erica Carbajal A s Cleveland Clinic celebrated its 100th anniversary, Brian Bolwell, MD, chair of its Taussig Cancer Institute, reflected on the advancements made in cancer care over the last 10 years in a Jan. 25 statement published on the health system's website. Four notes from Dr. Bolwell: 1. Cleveland Clinic's team-based care im- proved cancer programming. e team- based model leverages the expertise of physicians from different specialties, nurses and other support staff, which enhances each individual cancer program. 2. Today, cancer diagnoses are almost exclusively based on genomic or immu- nological abnormalities — "a substantial change that has contributed to a paradigm shi in cancer therapeutics," Dr. Bolwell said in the Jan. 25 article. 3. Immunological and genomic therapies are the new standard of care for a major- ity of cancers. "e outcomes of immu- nologic therapies for diseases like mela- noma and renal and lung cancers, among many others, are a springboard for more optimism about where the next [10] years could take us," Dr. Bolwell wrote. A decade ago, their use was still novel and limited to a small number of cancers. 4. Survivorship is a growing area of cancer care. Advancements in therapeutics have improved cancer patients' outcomes, allowing them to "live with cancer as a chronic disease," Dr. Bolwell said. "e im- plications of an increasingly large number of people living with cancer are wide rang- ing, from the development of additional abnormalities due to the interplay between immunologic drugs and genomic abnor- malities, to the unknowns of long-term use of immunologic agents." n Increased alcohol use driving uptick in hospitalizations for liver disease By Mackenzie Bean H ospitals nationwide have reported a spike in alcohol-related admissions for serious liver disease, the Los Angeles Times reported Feb. 8. At Los Angeles-based Keck Hospital of USC, admissions for alcoholic liver disease jumped 30 percent in 2020 compared to 2019. Hospitals affiliated with Chicago-based Northwestern Medicine, Boston-based Harvard Univer- sity and New York City-based Mount Sinai Health System have reported up to 50 percent increases in these admissions since March 2020, specialists at each organization told the publication. Many liver disease specialists and psychiatrists said they believe pandem- ic-related stressors such as isolation and unemployment are causing more people to drink and are fueling the spike in liver disease cases. "There's been a tremendous influx," Haripriya Maddur, a hepatologist at North- western Medicine, told the Los Angeles Times, adding that many of her patients with alcoholism have relapsed during the pandemic and required hospitalization. Dr. Maddur and other physicians have expressed concerns that the stressors lead- ing to higher alcohol consumption will continue well after lockdowns are lifted. "I think we're only on the cusp of this," Dr. Maddur said. "Quarantine is one thing, but the downturn of the economy, that's not going away anytime soon." n Black Americans more likely to live in vaccine deserts, Pitt study finds By Mackenzie Bean I n many parts of the U.S., Black people live farther away from a pharmacy or healthcare organization that administers COVID-19 vaccines than white people, according to research from the University of Pittsburgh School of Pharmacy and West Health Policy Center, a nonprofit, nonpartisan research center in Washington, D.C. Researchers found Black Americans were far more likely to live more than a mile away from the closest vaccination site in 69 counties, accounting for 26 million people. This trend was especially prevalent among counties in such Southern states as Georgia and Alabama, and in urban areas. About three-fourths of counties with disparities in vaccine access also had high COVID-19 infection rates, averaging more than 50 new cases per 100,000 between November 2020 and January. The findings are based on Pittsburgh School of Pharmacy and West Health Policy Center's VaxMap, which measures vaccine site density and driving distance for residents in each county. The analysis included data on nearly 70,000 potential COVID-19 vaccine administration sites nationwide. "Our maps identified areas of the country where temporary vaccination sites in locations like parking lots, stadiums and fair grounds will be needed to en- sure all Americans have access to a vaccine," Sean Dickson, director of health policy at West Health Policy Center, said in a news release. "We hope that this analysis will equip the new administration and state and county governments with information about where greater support is needed." n

• Cover