Lung cancer quality improvement grant available through CHEST

September 11, 2023

Glenview, Illinois – The American College of Chest Physicians (CHEST) invites applicants to submit proposals for deploying a quality improvement (QI) demonstration project in support of an initiative addressing biomarker testing for patients with suspected non-small cell lung cancer.

Interested applicants are asked to summarize their capacity for socializing the institutional and case-by-case checklists in clinical practice and collecting outcomes to assess overall impact. Up to two grants of $100,000 each will be distributed, and the deadline to apply is Monday, September 25.

The application requires:

• A plan for implementing the biomarker checklists in practice

• Gaps that will be addressed through implementation of the biomarker checklists in practice

• A process for collecting outcomes data, including approach, methodology, analysis and reporting (with preference given to outcomes related to system improvement, clinician behavior and patient outcomes)

• Any potential barriers that may be encountered and plans to overcome them

• A timeline and key milestones for QI implementation

• A plan for disseminating results

• A plan for sustaining the project beyond the funding period

“These checklists help to provide a systematic approach to timely and comprehensive biomarker testing,” says Gerard Silvestri, MD, MS, Master FCCP, Hillenbrand Professor of Thoracic Oncology at the Medical University of South Carolina.

Led by the expertise of lung cancer specialists, the checklists were created by Dr. Silvestri and Dr. Adam Fox, Assistant Professor of Medicine at the Medical University of South Carolina.

“With widespread adoption in multiple institutions, patients will receive personalized care, and we can begin to have an impact on survival and quality of life of patients with lung cancer,” says Dr. Fox.

To learn more and submit a proposal, visit https://info.chestnet.org/non-small-cell-lung-cancer-biomarker-testing-checklist.

This project is supported in part by AstraZeneca, Sanofi and Pfizer.

About the American College of Chest Physicians

The American College of Chest Physicians^® (CHEST) is the global leader in the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of chest diseases. Its mission is to champion advanced clinical practice, education, communication and research in chest medicine. It serves as an essential connection to clinical knowledge and resources for its 22,000+ members from around the world who provide patient care in pulmonary, critical care and sleep medicine. For information about the American College of Chest Physicians, and its flagship journal CHEST^®, visit chestnet.org.