By: Angela Criswell, Associate Director, Quality Screening and Program Initiatives, and Anita McGlothlin, Director, Economics & Health Policy

Lung cancer among veterans is a serious issue because they face higher incidence rates of the disease and a younger median age at diagnosis compared with the general US population. The disproportionate impact of lung cancer on veterans is due in part to higher smoking prevalence as well as occupational exposures including radon, asbestos, and diesel exhaust among other known carcinogens.

Because of the vital need for lung cancer early detection among veterans, GO2 for Lung Cancer proudly contributes to the Department of Veterans Affairs–Partnership to Increase Access to Lung Screening (VA-PALS) program. Two years ago we participated in the inaugural summit in Houston, and we recently returned from the second VA-PALS summit in Atlanta.

Funded by a grant from the Bristol-Myers Squibb Foundation, VA-PALS is an important step forward in better identifying veterans who may benefit from lung cancer screening and ensuring their access to this lifesaving service.

Here is what you need to know about this initiative:

Why is this important?

  • VA-PALS is mobilizing experts who bring best practices learned from current nationwide lung cancer screening programs, while newly developed workflow and software solutions  are streamlining the screening process. These advancements are key to widening LDCT lung cancer screening access to Veterans across the nation, and the lessons learned through VA-PALS will ripple throughout the VA system and have an impact far beyond the project’s 10 participating VA sites.
  • Through those 10 sites, VA-PALS has already reached thousands of veterans.  Dr. Drew Moghanaki, VA-PALS Principal Investigator and GO2 for Lung Cancer Scientific Leadership Board Member, notes that with their planned expansion in program reach and capacity, they could screen “tens of thousands more Veterans in the coming years.”  

How does GO2 for Lung Cancer participate?

  • GO2 for Lung Cancer brings a successful track record of screening advocacy and awareness efforts, so that those at high risk for lung cancer including veterans know about their lung cancer risk, understand the unique benefits and risks of LDCT lung cancer screening, and have access to high quality screening and care.
  • Through our 700+ member Screening Centers of Excellence network, GO2 provides a rich source of real-world experience and implementation data from best practices community-level screening programs, generating a game-changing stage shift toward early diagnosis and curative treatment opportunities for more and more lung cancer patients.

What can VA Centers tell us about lung cancer screening?

  • VA centers empowered by VA-PALS are showing us how a large healthcare system effectively gathers and shares knowledge to improve services for those at risk for lung cancer.
  • Such knowledge can help community-level civilian programs improve screening services by overcoming implementation barriers that drain time and resources.
  • Information gained from veterans whose lung cancer will be detected early through screening will provide far more robust data on additional lung cancer risk factors, including occupational exposures.

The VA-PALS program demonstrates the importance of sharing best practices. In this case, community screening programs will help inform the agency’s efforts to bring lifesaving lung cancer screening access to veterans, and the capacity of the Veterans Administration to roll-out, test and refine screening processes will aid civilian screening programs in providing even more efficient, streamlined and patient-centered lung cancer screening to their communities.

GO2 for Lung Cancer is proud to be a part of this effort.