The Hospital Systems Capacity Building Initiative* incorporated cancer prevention and screening interventions into the missions, priority settings, quality standards, and investment practices of hospital systems to help facilitate multisector partnerships to better address cancer prevention and screening priorities to improve population health outcomes.
Twenty selected hospital systems built partnerships with communities of practice to share best practices and develop evidence-based, collaborative action plans to address cancer prevention and screening in their communities.
The HSCB initiative focused on three priority areas - HPV vaccination, colorectal cancer screening rates, and breast health equity.
The initiative was supported by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), specifically the Center for State Tribal Local and Territorial Support.
* The project was a 5-year project that ended on July 31, 2023.
Project Objectives
To build the capacity of hospital systems to engage in multisector partnerships, the objectives included:
- Using hospitals as the center of the Community of Practice sites.
- Including hospital system representation, state and local health departments, community or social service organizations, and ACS hospital systems relationship managers in the COP site group.
- Setting a primary goal of increasing CRC screening, breast health equity, and HPV vaccination rates.
To implement evidence-based and informed interventions to increase screening and vaccination rates, the project teams:
- Focused on sharing and utilizing evidence-based and informed interventions.
- Provided training and support to foster the understanding and utilization of the best practices.
- Shared the information with a wider audience to help develop even stronger hospital relationships and initiatives.
The Hospital Systems Capacity Building Initiative
The American Cancer Society Hospital Systems Capacity Building (HSCB) Initiative helped health systems to incorporate cancer prevention and screening interventions into their mission, priority-setting, quality standards, and investment practices.