HOPA/ASCO QTP® 6-Month Thematic Program - Precision Oncology

ASCO's Quality Training Program (QTP) is a well-established, data-driven course in quality improvement for oncology providers who need to measure performance, investigate quality and safety issues, and implement change. The course is led by a faculty and coaching team of quality improvement specialists with oncology experience.

Pharmacists are key members of the cancer team who often lead efforts to enhance quality of care for cancer patients. By participating in this program, team members will gain the tools and strategies necessary to drive change at their institution. This course is designed for interdisciplinary teams of 3-4 practitioners, with a HOPA member pharmacist serving as a Team Lead.

Oncology pharmacists are essential contributors to precision oncology programs at their institutions, offering critical expertise in selecting and optimizing biomarker-driven therapies to support the cancer care team. Their deep knowledge of pharmacogenomics, drug interactions, and personalized dosing helps ensure targeted treatments are used safely and effectively - ultimately enhancing patient outcomes and minimizing adverse effects.

Having teams work on projects that fall under the same theme helps to facilitate better collaboration and shared learnings. Throughout the program, teams can help each other by sharing tools, resources, and best practices, and work together to overcome barriers. By participating in this program, teams will gain insights into how institutions operationalize precision oncology work around the country, while improving the programs at their own institutions.

Material covered at the One-Day Workshops serve as a launching point for the more in-depth training in oncology quality improvement offered during this program. Teams are paired with quality improvement experts who will serve as their coach throughout the 6-month period and help them take their projects from inception to completion. Teams will also come together for 5 days of in-person learning over the course of three learning sessions.

*Previous participation in a HOPA/ASCO QTP One-Day Workshop is not required to participate in the 6-Month Program.

HOPA recognizes the interest of our members in expanding their knowledge of both precision oncology and oncology quality improvement. We also acknowledge that funding opportunities from individual sites may be limited, which is why HOPA, in collaboration with the sponsors of the Precision Oncology Initiative, is funding the majority of the cost of the programming.

Participants are expected to attend 6 full days of training over the 6-month period. The initial onboarding session will be offered virtually, with the remaining five days of training offered in-person across three learning sessions. The first session is two days at the beginning of the course (March 2026). The second session is two days at the mid-point (June 2026). The third and final session is one day at the end of the six months (September 2026).

Program participation will officially begin once teams have been notified and confirm their acceptance into the program. It is likely that teams will need to collect baseline data for their problem statement prior to the first in-person learning session in March 2026. Teams will convene virtually with their coach in between the in-person learning sessions to work on the next phases of their project. Program commitment will end when the team has completed their QI project and published their results (typically 6-12 months after the final in-person learning session in September 2026). Teams should expect to spend two or more hours each week on their project.

Team Leads are required to be oncology pharmacists and HOPA members with good standing in order to participate in this program. Leads should have the support of the leadership/administration at their institution to commit time to the identified project. In addition, Leads should be knowledgeable of the content matter for the project, have strong organizational and communication skills, and be adept at leading a team.

Teams should be made up of 3-4 staff from your institution (including the Team Lead), and interdisciplinary teams are encouraged. The makeup of your team will depend on the problem you are trying to solve and should include staff from any area affected by the QI project (clinical, operational, or administrative). This may include pharmacists, pharmacy technicians, physicians, nurses, APPs, practice administrators, data analysts and informaticists, and/or quality specialists.

Identification of a project sponsor is also important for your project to be successful. The sponsor typically does not attend the in-person courses but supports the team by removing obstacles and providing needed resources at the site. The sponsor is typically an administrative or pharmacist lead at the site.

All projects are required to fall into the theme of precision oncology. Please consider the following when selecting your project:

• Small, discrete tasks that need to be completed regardless may not be a good fit for a QI project
• Most people will perform a job well if they know how to perform the function and understand they are accountable and there are consequences for not completing the task
• Large, complex projects such as IT implementations and practice transformation are likely to require extensive planning and resources, and will take longer than 6 months to complete, so these are not good choices for the Quality Training Program
• Problems in practice where the cause is not known might be a good potential project for the Quality Training Program
• The QI projects completed during the QTP require an analysis of causes, collection of data, and a multidisciplinary team to improve the process

Not too large: Often a project team starts with a goal to improve a process for the entire practice and later reduces the scope to only a specific disease type or some subset of the full patient population. Starting small enables a project team to test and refine an idea before rolling it out to the entire practice. Later, the intervention can spread to the rest of the practice.

Not too small: Do not set the scope to a narrow population with a project to reduce or eliminate rare events. For example, if the scope of the intervention is limited to solid-tumor lung cancer patients for the project of reducing patients who die in the ICU, possibly not enough patients would be seen in a week or a month to fully assess the results of the intervention.

Just right: The Quality Training Program improvement phase is typically 10-14 weeks (between Session 2 and Session 3). Within that time, teams should plan and execute at least one, and possibly two or three tests of change, and each test of change should evaluate at least 20 patients. A test of change will take 2-4 weeks, so the scope should be broad enough to have about 20 patients during that period.

The Improvement Coach assigned to the project team can help determine the appropriate project scope.

No, ACPE or BCOP credits are not offered for this program.

Unfortunately, HOPA is not able to offer any positions to international teams at this time.