EQUITY GI: A Prospective Study to Enhance Quality, Inclusivity, and Trial Participation in Black Patients With Gastrointestinal Cancer.

Black individuals, including African Americans, have a disproportionate cancer burden, including the highest mortality and the lowest survival of any racial/ethnic group for most cancers.1 Colorectal cancer (CRC), the most common subtype of GI cancer, is the third most frequently diagnosed cancer among Black men and women.1 Black participants have a disproportionate gastrointestinal (GI) tract cancer burden compared with White participants, with a 19% excess risk of cancer death for men and a 13% excess risk for women.2 Almost two decades after the Institute of Medicine's Unequal Treatment report,3 the treatment gap persists among Black participants with GI cancer across treatment settings and modalities.4 A National Cancer Database (NCDB)-based analysis suggests that Black participants with GI cancers are less likely than White participants to achieve negative surgical margins, undergo adequate lymphadenectomies, and less often receive adjuvant therapies.4 Similar data demonstrates racial disparities in care and outcomes in many GI cancer types.5-8 It is important to emphasize that the disparity of cancer care among Black participants shown in the published studies is likely an underestimate given that Black participants are less likely to receive appropriate workups leading to a cancer diagnosis because of the mistrust in the existing system.9 The age-standardized incidence of various GI cancers, including colon, rectal, liver, intrahepatic bile duct, stomach, and pancreatic cancers, is projected to rise in the United States (US) in the coming decades,10 strongly supporting a need for innovative measures to address the care gap. With this proposed project, investigator seeks to address this troubling disparity by assessing the extent of the care gap, expanding the biomarker testing and evidence-based care through the molecular tumor board, and implementing a information platform integrated with EPIC electronic health record system that will guide providers to navigate the biomarker-driven therapy and clinical trial enrollment.

University Hospitals Seidman Cancer Center (UH SCC) is a large hybrid academic-community oncology network that includes the main academic center and 15 community-based cancer centers. At UH SCC, approximately 2000 participants with GI cancer diagnoses are treated annually, and 15 % of these participants are Black. Investigator retrospectively reviewed all cases of CRC, the most prevalent GI cancer, diagnosed in the UH SCC system from April 2020 to March 2022 and found that only 30% of participants underwent all appropriate biomarker testing. Biomarker testing rates were particularly low in community sites. In addition, approximately 15% of participants treated for CRC at UH SCC were underserved minorities, predominantly Black, in whom the rate of biomarker testing was even lower (20%). These data highlight the urgent need for measures to close the care gap. Our colleagues at UH SCC in the thoracic oncology group previously demonstrated the feasibility of improving biomarker testing and implementing biomarker-guided treatment by utilizing an integrated information platform that tracks the biomarker test results.11 Investigator plans to create a similar integrated information platform for GI cancer participants, 'EQUITY GI Oncotracker.'