President Biden and First Lady Jill Biden were in New Orleans on Tuesday to tout the Biden Cancer Moonshot initiative, which aims to boost funding research and treatment to prevent cancer deaths and help those living with the disease. Earlier in the day, the White House announced up to $150 million in awards to eight research teams across the country to develop technologies that will allow surgeons to provide more successful tumor-removal surgeries for people facing cancer. The Department of Health and Human Services recently awarded nearly $9 million to improve access to cancer screenings and follow-up treatments in underserved communities, part of the initiative's effort to expand preventive cancer care.

Lawmakers in Congress haven’t left themselves much choice if they want to fund the government and prevent a government shutdown in a few months: They’ll need to kick the can down the road. The House left Washington last week, and the Senate will soon follow, with scant progress made toward passing the 12 annual spending bills, or appropriations, that keep vital agencies and government programs running. Current federal financing expires September 30, the end of the 2024 fiscal year.

Recent Supreme Court decisions curbing the power of federal agencies will hobble government efforts to protect public health, legal experts warn. The rulings will make it harder for some federal agencies to bring enforcement actions, give judges more leeway to second-guess agency decisions, and following a July 22, 2024, decision, make it easier to challenge long-settled regulations. Legal experts and health officials expect a gusher of litigation that will complicate the regulation of drugs, tobacco products, and cutting-edge medical technologies. The administration of government health insurance programs could be further mired in lawsuits, and decades-old agency decisions may be newly vulnerable to challenges.

Completely switching to menthol-flavored e-cigarette products provides a health benefit for adults who smoke cigarettes compared to tobacco-flavored products, with sufficient evidence to outweigh the risks of the product, including youth appeal, NJOY LLC reported in its marketing application, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) said. Because the supplied evidence met FDA’s criteria, in June 2024, the agency issued marketing granted orders to NJOY LLC for four menthol-flavored products.

The Biden administration asked a federal judge to dismiss a lawsuit by anti-smoking groups demanding that it end nearly a year of delay and ban menthol cigarettes, which are used disproportionately by Blacks and younger people. In a Thursday night court filing, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration said the delay was not unreasonable because it had yet to determine that a ban was “appropriate for the protection of the public health.”

To tackle the unauthorized and illegal sale and distribution of e-cigarettes and vaping products that “continue to jeopardize the health of Americans—particularly children and adolescents—across the United States,” according to Acting Associate Attorney General Benjamin C. Mizer, in June 2024 the U.S. Department of Justice and U.S. Food and Drug Administration announced the creation and launch of a new task force that brings together multiple law enforcement agencies.

Palliative and bereavement care should be a health policy priority, an international team of public health scientists reported in Lancet Public Health. They called for interprofessional health workers, organizations, and systems to “shift bereavement care from an afterthought to a public health priority.”

Firefighters may have an increased risk of prostate cancer because of on-the-job chemical exposures, according to new data from the Fire Fighter Cancer Cohort Study. Firefighters are diagnosed with prostate cancer at a rate 1.21 times higher than the general population, possibly because of chemical exposures, including smoke and firefighting foam, during firefighting.

For many cancers being treated with radiation therapy, evidence-based standards of care have transitioned to shorter treatment courses. However, Medicare’s outdated fee-for-service approach penalizes radiation oncologists for following those best practices. In May 2024, bipartisan lawmakers introduced a new bill in the U.S. House of Representatives and Senate that would “modernize Medicare reimbursement for radiation therapy, safeguard access to high-quality cancer treatments, improve patient outcomes, and reduce health disparities while generating savings for Medicare,” the legislators said in a May 15 press release.

Senate Finance Committee Chair Ron Wyden (D-OR) and Ranking Member Mike Crapo (R-ID) today released a draft legislative proposal to address persistent economic problems leading to shortages of generic medicines plaguing America’s healthcare system, including chemotherapy drugs and ADHD medications.

The Biden-Harris administration on Friday announced it is dropping—for now―a plan to ban menthol cigarettes after months of speculation about the proposal’s future. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra did not say when or if the administration would revisit the issue, nor did he mention the fate of a related proposal to ban flavored cigars.

Nearly 50% of nurses who leave the profession say they chose to do so because of burnout or insufficient staffing, according to the results of a new survey that nurse researchers reported in JAMA Network Open.

Lifting the veil on prostate cancer and sharing lifesaving information, former National Institutes of Health (NIH) Director Francis S. Collins, MD, PhD, revealed in April 2024 that his active surveillance, slow-growing prostate cancer had advanced to a Gleason score of 9. Collins made the announcement in a Washington Post perspective piece in which he accounted his experience from both a patient and clinician lens.

A record-breaking 323 drugs are currently in shortage in the United States, according to April 2024 ASHP data. In tandem timing, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) announced its plan to prevent and mitigate drug shortages and proposed new solutions for policymakers to consider in an April 2024 white paper.

In 2023, approximately 2 million people were diagnosed with cancer in the United States. During National Cancer Control Month each April, the country pauses to recognize the pivotal role of prevention, detection, and treatment in the fight against cancer.

Senate Finance Committee Chair Ron Wyden (D-OR) and Ranking Member Mike Crapo (R-ID) today announced their commitment to working on bipartisan healthcare legislation to prevent and mitigate shortages of critical generic drugs used by patients and providers in the United States. In a white paper released today, Wyden and Crapo outlined concerns raised by experts at a hearing held in the Finance Committee on December 5, 2023, as well as areas of interest and ideas the Committee is exploring to address the factors contributing to shortages through modifications to the Medicare and Medicaid programs.

In 2019, 20% of colorectal cancer diagnoses occurred in patients younger than 55—approximately double the diagnosis rate in 1995. Since 2010, rates of advanced disease have increased about 3% annually in people younger than 50. Researchers are actively investigating the reasons behind that trend.

More than 30% of patients with cancer who used tobacco stopped or reduced their use after participating in an oncology nurse–led tobacco cessation program, Rochelle J. Lonn, RN, DNP, NE-BC, OCN^®, reported in an article for the February 2024 issue of the Clinical Journal of Oncology Nursing. The author projected that the quit and reduction rates would have a per lifetime savings of $102,600 and a per premature death cost avoidance of $511,200.

The U.S. House Committee on Oversight and Accountability in late February 2024 called pharmaceutical companies to provide more information and a briefing to explain the ongoing shortages of several cancer drugs, including carboplatin, cisplatin, and methotrexate; amoxicillin; and stimulant medications.

An estimated 35 million new cancer cases will be diagnosed in 2050, the World Health Organization (WHO) reported in February 2024, a 77% increase from the estimated 20 million cases in 2022. Yet according to survey responses across 115 countries, most parts of the world do not have sufficient funding for cancer and palliative care services, WHO said. Additionally, the data showed “striking inequities in the cancer burden” based on the Human Development Index and “significant global inequities in cancer services” between high- and low-income countries.

The idea of cancer survivorship care has a longstanding history, but in the current landscape, the imperative to deliver that care has never been more pressing. During the 1970s, about one in two people diagnosed with cancer survived at least five years, but because of advancements in screening and treatment, now more than two in three survive that long. As a result, the number of cancer survivors has significantly increased: As of January 2022, the United States had 18.1 million cancer survivors, which is more than 5% of the U.S. population.  

Caring for a loved one with cancer is an act of love and compassion—an act that the majority of the 18 million individuals living with cancer in the United States rely primarily on unpaid family and friend caregivers to provide. Those caregivers rarely have formal training, and many do not have adequate support to navigate the complexities of medical and nursing care. 

A bipartisan group of lawmakers is urging the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to work with the U.S. Congress to ensure that Medicare beneficiaries maintain access to telehealth. Led by U.S. Senator Brian Schatz (D-HI), the group sent HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra a letter on January 29, 2024, making the case for permanent telehealth legislation before the current waivers expire at the end of 2024.

Menthol in cigarettes can make them more addictive. Public health experts say banning the sale of menthol cigarettes could save hundreds of thousands of lives, particularly among Black smokers. An estimated 85% of Black smokers use menthol cigarettes, according to federal statistics.

Among U.S. high school students, current overall tobacco product use declined nearly 30% in the past year, dropping from 16.5% in 2022 to 12.6% in 2023, according to findings that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) reported from the 2023 National Youth Tobacco Survey.

White House officials will take more time to review a sweeping plan from U.S. health regulators to ban menthol cigarettes, an unexpected delay that antitobacco groups fear could scuttle the long-awaited rule. Administration officials indicated Wednesday the process will continue into next year, targeting March to implement the rule, according to an updated regulatory agenda posted online. Previously, the rule was widely expected to be published in late 2023 or early January.

Cancer death rates among children and teens dropped in the past two decades, according to new data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), but that decline has stalled over the past 10 years among Black and Hispanic children. In the first decade, all races saw a similar decline in the cancer death rate. But between 2011 and 2021, the death rate dropped only slightly for Hispanic youth and increased for Black youth. In 2021, the death rate for White youth was 19%–20% lower than for Black and Hispanic youth, the CDC found.

The U.S. Senate on Tuesday confirmed Monica M. Bertagnolli, MD, FACS, FASCO, a cancer surgeon who currently leads the National Cancer Institute, as the next director of the National Institutes of Health, overriding the objections of Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT), the chair of the Senate health committee. The vote was 62 to 36, with Sanders voting no. 

More than double the number of healthcare workers reported harassment at work in 2022 than in 2018, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said when sharing the results of a recent survey in an October 2023 Vital Signs report. Harassment may include threats, bullying, verbal abuse, or other actions from patients and coworkers that create a hostile work environment, all of which have important implications for health worker mental health, CDC said.

“Quality cancer care requires safety, efficacy, timeliness, and a patient-centered approach coordained by an interprofessional team with the integration of evidence-based practices to continuously improve care. Holistic, culturally sensitive, quality cancer care [also] requires equitable access to healthcare professionals via telehealth or in-person visits across specialties with an understanding of how cancer and cancer treatments affect wellness.”

The Cancer Moonshot plan identifies five priority areas, all of which artificial intelligence (AI) has the potential to enhance. Two areas in particular lend themselves to AI: the call to "deliver the latest cancer innovations to patients and communities" and the aim of enhancing "the oncology model to place cancer patients at the center of decision-making."

In April 2023, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services launched the country’s first formal National Cancer Plan (NCP) under the Cancer Moonshot. It serves as a framework to guide the broad contributions across society in the United States’ work to “end cancer as we know it.” 

More than 70% of the world’s population—5.6 billion people—live in a country that has a formal best practice tobacco control policy, a fivefold increase since 2007, according to the World Health Organization. The organization published its findings from the Ninth Report on the Global Tobacco Epidemic in Lancet Oncology.

“Advocacy is a pillar of nursing. Nurses instinctively advocate for their patients, in their workplaces, and in their communities, but legislative and political advocacy is no less important to advancing the profession and patient care.” —American Nurses Association 

Cancer survivors from historically marginalized racial and ethnic groups who experience racism are more likely to report physical, mental, sleep, and activity issues during survivorship, researchers reported in study results published in Cancer. 

A geriatric nurse practitioner who served as a Navy helicopter pilot in the Persian Gulf through two deployments, U.S. Representative Jen Kiggans (R-VA) introduced new legislation that would allow more providers to use telehealth services, expanding access and reducing barriers for their patients.

People who live near nuclear weapons testing sites or work with uranium, U.S. Department of Energy employees, and firefighters, victims, and rescue and recovery workers from the September 11, 2001, attacks may be eligible for various government- or employer-funded compensation if they develop cancers because of their exposure to known related carcinogens. The funds can alleviate some of patients’ financial burden of cancer treatment and care and support families’ emotional well-being with a tangible reminder that the cancer is unrelated to any underlying inherited genetic disorder.

The COVID-19 pandemic crushed supply chains and caused the global trading system to falter. Although many industries have rebounded, pharma is still experiencing its effects. Drug shortages directly limit healthcare providers’ ability to provide patient-centered oncology care.

Cancer affects millions of people worldwide, and certain populations face a disproportionate burden of incidence, mortality, access to care, and representation in clinical trials. Oncology nurses can be a voice for their patients and an advocate for vulnerable individuals.

Recharting the trajectory of cancer in the United States requires involvement from everyone—government and private investors, researchers, clinicians, and people with cancer, their caregivers, and advocates, the National Cancer Institute said in April 2023 as it launched the National Cancer Plan. The plan supports the Cancer Moonshot initiative and “aligns broad societal engagement and focuses on critical needs to end cancer as we know it.”

Deanna Fournier, a cancer survivor, and Eli Diamond, MD, a neuro-oncologist at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York, NY, discussed Fournier’s cancer journey and the progress toward a better patient experience during a National Cancer Institute Office of Cancer Survivorship lecture. Communicating with patients throughout their cancer journey can help healthcare providers, including oncology nurses, support patients and advocate for their unique needs.

From President Richard Nixon’s war on cancer in 1971 to President Joe Biden’s commitment to “ending cancer as we know it” in 2022, fighting the disease has been a bipartisan focus. Yet in that era, when cancer hit home, policymakers often hushed their own diagnoses. But times change, and many of today’s lawmakers are now boldly sharing their personal experiences with cancer as inspiration for action.

In the final days of 2022, as the world turned the calendar to celebrate a new year, the cancer advocacy community also celebrated: One of ONS’s longtime priority bills, the Lymphedema Treatment Act, achieved a landmark legislative win, passing the U.S. Senate as part of the fiscal year 2023 omnibus funding package. President Biden signed it into law on December 29, 2022, securing access to treatment supplies for patients with cancer-related lymphedema.

Midterm elections occurring halfway through a U.S. president’s first cycle are a referendum on that administration’s policies. Unable to take out their frustrations directly with the country’s chief executive, voters historically punish the president’s party at the ballot box. Still, politics is about people, and political scientists discourage attempts to quantify reactions and unexpected results. November 2022’s realignment of the federal power structure was an expected outcome.

The Lymphedema Treatment Act, a key piece of legislation for ONS’s health policy priorities, passed the U.S. House of Representatives in November 2022. The bill is now in the U.S. Senate for review along its journey to becoming law.

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, through the Health Resources and Services Administration, awarded more than $5 million in September 2022 to 11 HRSA-funded community health centers to help underserved populations access cancer screenings and early detection services in partnership with National Cancer Institute-designated cancer centers.

Since the late 1990s, U.S. Congress has made a concerted effort to increase federal funding for the National Institutes of Health’s (NIH’s) biomedical research and clinical trials. Through rare but always bipartisan largess, legislative appropriators have seen the benefits of investing in the science for precision medicine; supporting genetic-grounded, patient-centered care; and changing the quality and longevity of life for millions of people, including those with cancer diagnoses.

Nurses’ valuable insight can bring a new perspective to every industry. Extreme dedication, unique experiences, and essential problem-solving skills help nurses to create an impact locally and nationally, and decision-makers have learned that these healthcare professionals have a plethora of valuable insight that must be heard in boardrooms across the country.

Advocacy can mean many things to nurses, and the meaning may even change depending on your position and perspective. The dictionary definition is “the act or process of supporting a cause or proposal,” but being an oncology nursing advocate goes far beyond that. It’s about having a vision for something and not settling for the status quo. It’s about striving for the best in whatever that cause may be—our patients, the profession, or health care in general.