About 500 patients walk through the doors of Christus St. Vincent Regional Cancer Center each day.
The number puts the cancer center’s work into perspective, said Genevieve Tarnow, Christus St. Vincent’s executive director of oncology services.
“We have 500 patients who need some type of cancer treatment or surveillance, and they’re coming here for that care every day,” she said.
New Mexico has the lowest rate of new cancer cases in the U.S., data from the National Cancer Institute shows. But the state is also home to some “real warning signs” when it comes to cancer care, including one of the worst rates of cancer screening in the country and poor five-year survival rates, said Laura McGough, cancer control program manager for the state Department of Health.
As a result, public health officials, advocates, healthcare workers and cancer survivors with the New Mexico Cancer Council have updated the statewide cancer plan, placing particular emphasis on early detection and speedy access to treatment as the state grapples with a shortage of healthcare providers. McGough said the plan will serve as a road map for cancer screening, treatment and survival in New Mexico through 2031.
“The reason to have this plan is for all New Mexicans to … come together, collaborate, and find a way to better address these problems,” she said.
Improving survival rates
The plan encourages residents to reduce their risk of cancer by engaging in healthy habits like using sun protection, preventing infectious diseases like hepatitis and HPV, and reducing nicotine and alcohol use. Ultimately, it envisions a future in which all New Mexicans have access to fully staffed services for cancer screening, diagnosis and treatment.
The plan’s authors argue that effort should drive up the state’s five-year cancer survival rate, which is 64.4%. New Mexico is ranked 40th in the nation for cancer survival.
But the state faces a major stumbling blocks in accomplishing that goal. The plan acknowledges too many residents face long waits for doctor appointments, diagnostic procedures and treatment amid a statewide shortage of healthcare workers and limited options for specialty care.
As a result, McGough said, New Mexicans tend to be diagnosed with cancer at later stages with grimmer prognoses.
“The health worker shortage impacts access to screening and diagnosis, so the cancer plan really calls for increased investment and asks for a strategic plan to address the health worker shortage,” she said.
The plan encourages lawmakers to continue several of the healthcare policy changes they started earlier this year, including increasing student loan forgiveness options for healthcare workers, continuing medical malpractice reforms and joining interstate healthcare compacts — a series of agreements that make it easier for out-of-state healthcare workers to practice in New Mexico.
It also calls for comprehensive insurance coverage — including through Medicaid, Medicare and private plans — for cancer screening services, plus follow-up appointments after an abnormal screen. The cancer plan encourages policymakers to provide sustainable funding for safety-net screening programs and support proposals that would eliminate out-of-pocket costs and nonfinancial barriers such as prior authorization requirements and lack of transportation for cancer screening services.
Screening is particularly important for what McGough called the “big five” cancers: breast, cervical, colorectal, lung and prostate cancers, all of which can be detected and treated early.
Breast, cervical and colorectal cancer screenings are recommended for everyone starting at certain ages, while lung and prostate cancer screenings are recommended for people with certain risk factors.
McGough acknowledged screening can be scary; patients often say they’d rather not know if they have cancer. But she encouraged them to seek screening anyway.
“Don’t miss the chance to catch cancer early because that’s when treatment is more effective and there are more treatment options,” McGough said.
Reaching everyone
The statewide cancer plan also encourages lawmakers to set aside state resources to identify the availability and quality of cancer care — including pediatric cancer care — as New Mexico struggles under a provider shortage.
Even Christus St. Vincent’s new cancer center — an $80 million facility that opened just a year ago — feels the strain of the state’s dearth of healthcare workers. While the facility’s doctors aim to see patients with new diagnoses within 48 hours of referral and overbook their schedules to accommodate acute cases, Tarnow said wait times average two to three months for patients who have a history of cancer but aren’t in treatment.
She said the cancer center is hosting outreach clinics in Northern New Mexico towns with fewer options for oncology services, like Taos and Los Alamos.
“We know the delay in care can really affect outcomes, so ensuring that patients can get as timely care as possible will help shift those rates and increase our survival rates too,” Tarnow said.
The strain of the workforce shortage — and the commitment to treating patients — was clear while the plan was being developed, said Christine Fernandez, a veteran oncology nurse who works at Christus St. Vincent’s cancer center and contributed to the statewide cancer plan.
“Everyone is stretched and everyone is taxed,” Fernandez said. “But at the same time, we all want to continue to provide more services, [to] do better.”
