What is NCCN?
The National Comprehensive Cancer Network® (NCCN®), a not-for-profit alliance of 21 of the world’s leading cancer centers, is dedicated to improving the quality and effectiveness of care provided to people with cancer. Through the leadership and expertise of clinical professionals at NCCN Member Institutions, NCCN develops sound clinical information to enhance the decision-making processes of patients, physicians, and others who influence access to and the choice of cancer care.
What are the NCCN Guidelines™?
The NCCN Guidelines—the recognized standard for clinical policy in oncology―are the most comprehensive and most frequently updated clinical practice guidelines available in any area of medicine. These guidelines provide information that many doctors follow to make sure their decisions for people with cancer are well informed.
When looking at the NCCN Guidelines, you are reviewing the same guidelines that your doctors probably use to make decisions about your care. NCCN Guidelines are designed for use by medical professionals who treat cancer. They use medical terminology and a large number of acronyms that are commonly understood by doctors who treat cancer, but may be difficult for non-medical people to interpret. For that reason, we suggest that if you wish to use these guidelines, you review them with your doctor or nurse so you can better understand how they apply to your treatment.
Why Are Guidelines Important?
By showing the standard of care, guidelines can reduce variation in how patients are treated and help make sure everyone gets the best care for them. However, no one treatment is right for everyone. Clinical research shows that some treatments are better for a particular disease than others. Similarly, studies have shown that different patients with the same cancer need different treatments. Recommendations included in the guidelines are those that NCCN doctors feel are most useful based on the evidence published in medical journals and their own experience treating patients. Therefore, even if a treatment is part of the guidelines, it may not be the right treatment for all people with cancer or all people with that particular cancer. This is because each patient has a specific medical history and individual circumstances.
On the other hand, not including a particular treatment in the guidelines only means that there is not enough evidence at this time to support using it as part of standard practice.
Many new treatments are available because patients have participated in clinical trials. Additionally, new treatments that are not yet part of standard practice may only be available in clinical trials, In these studies, new treatments are compared to the existing best treatment to find out which is better. You can discuss whether a clinical trial might be right for you with your doctor.
How Are the NCCN Guidelines Developed?
The NCCN Guidelines are developed by 44 different guidelines panels composed of almost 900 physicians from each of the NCCN Member Institutions. These panels are multidisciplinary, which means they include experts in different fields. These fields include medical oncology, surgical oncology, radiation oncology, pathology, radiology, nursing, and social work. Recommendations in the guidelines are based on evaluation of evidence from clinical trials that are published in the medical literature. Most of the panel members who develop the guidelines are both do clinical research and treat people with cancer. The members of each panel specialize in the specific tumors and diseases discussed in that guideline. Some guidelines panels also have patient advocates to bring the patient’s perspective to the panel discussions. NCCN panel members volunteer more than 15,000 hours each year to develop and update the guidelines.
How Are the NCCN Guidelines Used?
The NCCN Guidelines are used by doctors in academic centers and community practices to inform their decisions when diagnosing and treating people with cancer. The NCCN Guidelines encompass 97% of the tumors encountered in oncology practices and are continually updated. With the guidelines, doctors and patients have access to the same treatment regimens used by guidelines panel members when they treat their patients. The decisions of the expert panel are based on scientific data coordinated with expert judgment. Community physicians may or may not perform research, but by using the NCCN Guidelines, they have information about the latest evidence from clinical trials.
What is Multidisciplinary Care?
Cancer care takes place over weeks and months. During this time, you may see a medical oncologist, a surgical oncologist, a radiation oncologist, and other doctors, depending on the type and stage of disease you have. You may need only surgery, but many people need a combination of surgery, chemotherapy, radiation, and targeted therapy. Physicians in all these specialties must work together to treat your cancer. Communication among your doctors is important so your treatment can be coordinated for your ultimate benefit.
The NCCN Guidelines reflect this coordination of care and show the timeline during which appropriate services should be given. The guidelines enhance the clinical decision-making of your doctors. The guidelines are built for doctors and contain technical language that some patients may find confusing. Be assured that your doctors won’t be confused!
Are There Materials that Can Help People with Cancer Understand the NCCN Clinical Practice Guidelines in Oncology™?
The NCCN Treatment Summaries for People with Cancer™ are designed to give patients a better understanding of cancer, including diagnosis and treatment options, so you can work with your health care providers to achieve a longer and better-quality life. The NCCN Treatment Summaries are based on the NCCN Guidelines. These summaries, where available, translate the information doctors use for patients to help you and your family get a basic understanding of how treatment works. You can discuss the summaries with your health care team so you can make the care decisions that are right for you. Information found on the
NCCN.com also includes information on a number of topics that may be important to you. These topics include basic information on cancer, living with cancer from day to day, and you may have about paying for cancer treatment. NCCN.com also has information for cancer survivors. More information on NCCN.com is available at About NCCN.com.
Other organizations can also provide helpful information. For example, the National Cancer Institute’s website can help you to understand terms and concepts found in the NCCN Guidelines. The National Cancer Institute provides information about common and uncommon cancers, clinical trials, and other important cancer topics.
How Do Insurance Companies Decide to Cover Treatments?
Both commercial and government-sponsored (e.g., Medicare) insurance plans look to the experts to determine which treatments should be covered for a particular cancer. The NCCN Drugs & Biologics Compendium (NCCN Compendium™) is based directly on the NCCN Guidelines and contains scientifically evaluated information designed to support decisions about the appropriate use of drugs and biologic agents in patients with cancer. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services and UnitedHealthcare have officially recognized the NCCN Compendium™ as a mandated reference for cancer coverage policy. The NCCN Compendium lists both FDA-approved uses and appropriate uses beyond the FDA-approved label (“off-label”) for drugs and biologic agents that are recommended in the NCCN Guidelines for a particular disease.
How Does NCCN Help to Ensure High-quality Care?
At the center of all NCCN programs is the mission of improving the quality, effectiveness, and efficiency of cancer care so patients can live better lives. The NCCN Guidelines and the NCCN Compendium are two ways that NCCN tries to achieve this goal. Another way is the NCCN Chemotherapy Orders Templates (NCCN Templates™). NCCN developed the NCCN Templates™ to increase patient safety. The information contained in the NCCN Templates is based on the NCCN Guidelines and the NCCN Compendium. Doctors may use these templates to make sure that all tests and supportive care treatments are completed along with a patient’s chemotherapy. The NCCN Templates helps doctors standardize patient care, reduce medication errors, and anticipate and manage side effects. NCCN is continually thinking about developing new resources that will inform the decisions of patients and physicians and will lead to high-quality cancer care.