The American Urological Association (AUA) announced its support for the Veterans Prostate Cancer Treatment and Research Act, introduced on March 5 by Rep. Neal Dunn, MD (R-FL-3), and Rep. Joe Cunningham (D-SC-1). This 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.
There is no national clinical pathway for prostate cancer care. The VHA has unparalleled systems and data resources and is uniquely capable of creating a true learning health-care system to tackle its most common cancer diagnosis—leading to models that have the potential to affect all men.
The Veterans Prostate Cancer Treatment and Research Act specifically requires the VHA to:
- Create a national prostate cancer clinical pathway to cover the disease from screening to end of life, and update it as needed.
- Develop a national prostate cancer care implementation program.
- Design a prostate cancer registry and research program.
“The VHA—as a national system for health-care delivery—is perfectly positioned to create this program,” said AUA President John H. Lynch, MD.
John H. Lynch, MD
“We’d like to thank Dr. Dunn and Rep. Cunningham for introducing this very important bill to help understand how we can define and deliver optimal care for men with prostate cancer. The AUA is proud to support this important piece of legislation, which we believe will standardize treatment options and result in improved outcomes for prostate cancer patients.”
