House Legislation Will Provide Programs to Support Coordinated, Comprehensive Care for U.S. Veterans with Prostate Cancer

BALTIMORE, Sept. 22, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- The American Urological Association (AUA) today celebrates the passage of H.R. 6092, the Veteran's Prostate Cancer Treatment and Research Act by the U.S. House of Representatives, which passed unanimously this afternoon. This important bill supports the development and implementation of a Veterans Health Administration (VHA) health care program focused on coordinated and comprehensive care for veterans with prostate cancer.

The bill would also direct the VHA to develop a national clinical pathway for prostate cancer and design a Prostate Cancer Registry and Research Program. A clinical pathway is a tool based on multidisciplinary evidence that guides health care best practices for a specific condition or disease. The goal of a clinical pathway is to streamline and improve both quality and delivery of care for patients, resulting in improved outcomes for those patients. The registry created by this legislation would be specific to veterans receiving treatment within the VHA system.

H.R. 6092 was originally introduced in the House in March 2020 by Representatives Neal Dunn (R-FL-2) and Joe Cunningham (D-SC-1). The House Veterans' Affairs Committee held a hearing on this bill earlier this month. The AUA has supported the bill since its introduction, submitted to the VA Committee a statement on the record in support of the bill prior to the September 10 hearing and celebrates today with the more than three million prostate cancer survivors within the United States.

The National Institutes of Health reports that prostate cancer is the most common cancer diagnosed in the VHA, and the American Cancer Society estimates that nearly 192,000 men will be diagnosed with prostate cancer in 2020 alone.

"Given that the development of national clinical care pathways requires extensive data on large populations, the VHA is equipped and well-positioned to develop these models," said AUA President Dr. Scott Swanson. "It is our hope that the Senate will see the value of moving this important legislation forward to advance care for our nation's veterans and for all men."

The VHA is the largest integrated health care system in the United States with more than 1,200 health care facilities and provides care to more than nine million veterans enrolled in the VA health care program. The VHA has unparalleled systems and data resources and is uniquely capable of creating a true learning health care system to develop national clinical pathways to help physicians diagnose and treat prostate cancer. These models have the potential to affect all men, regardless of whether they receive care through the VHA.

"The establishment of a clinical pathway will standardize treatment options and result in improved outcomes for these patients," Dr. Swanson said. "The passage of this bill by the House is a victory for veterans living with prostate cancer."

About the American Urological Association: Founded in 1902 and headquartered near Baltimore, Maryland, the American Urological Association is a leading advocate for the specialty of urology and has nearly 23,000 members throughout the world. The AUA is a premier urologic association, providing invaluable support to the urologic community as it pursues its mission of fostering the highest standards of urologic care through education, research and the formulation of health policy.

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SOURCE American Urological Association