Publication Alert: Enhancing Cancer Care Through a Statewide Mainstream Germline Genetic Testing Model

We’re excit­ed to share the recent pub­li­ca­tion of impor­tant work led by the Adult Genet­ics Unit and the Can­cer Statewide Clin­i­cal Net­work with­in the CEIH. Pub­lished in the Asia-Pacif­ic Jour­nal of Clin­i­cal Oncol­o­gy, this research describes the devel­op­ment, imple­men­ta­tion, and eval­u­a­tion of a statewide main­stream genet­ic test­ing mod­el designed to improve access and enhance can­cer treat­ment deci­sion making. 

Why is germline genet­ic test­ing impor­tant?

Germline genet­ic test­ing iden­ti­fies inher­it­ed gene changes that can sig­nif­i­cant­ly influ­ence can­cer risk, diag­no­sis, and treat­ment. Ear­ly and wide­spread access to these tests enables tai­lored patient care, informs treat­ment options, and helps guide fam­i­ly risk assess­ments — all vital com­po­nents of pre­ci­sion oncol­o­gy and effec­tive can­cer control. 

The project aimed to cre­ate a stream­lined and con­sis­tent path­way that sup­ports patients access­ing germline test­ing. Guid­ed by imple­men­ta­tion sci­ence and a col­lab­o­ra­tive approach, the team worked close­ly with clin­i­cians, genet­ic spe­cial­ists and con­sumers to devel­op prac­ti­cal tools, edu­ca­tion pro­grams, and work­flow-aligned path­ways. This mod­el cov­ers mul­ti­ple can­cer types and spans met­ro­pol­i­tan and region­al health net­works, fos­ter­ing equi­ty and effi­cien­cy across diverse clin­i­cal settings. 

Key out­comes include:

• A sub­stan­tial increase in BRCA1/2 genet­ic tests ordered through the main­stream path­way, reflect­ing improved access. 

• High lev­els of clin­i­cian and patient accept­abil­i­ty of the main­stream test­ing model. 

• Valu­able insights into imple­men­ta­tion chal­lenges for Mis­match Repair (MMR) gene vari­ant test­ing (relat­ed to Lynch Syn­drome), high­light­ing the need for tai­lored approaches. 

• Iden­ti­fi­ca­tion of bar­ri­ers such as time pres­sures and data mon­i­tor­ing dif­fi­cul­ties, with ongo­ing part­ner­ship and respon­sive strate­gies crit­i­cal to over­com­ing these. 
  
  

This project utilised the CEIH Project Life­cy­cle, which is freely avail­able on our web­site. The frame­work inte­grates imple­men­ta­tion sci­ence and research-to-action prin­ci­ples through­out stages of the project – from ini­tial plan­ning and design to eval­u­a­tion and ongo­ing improve­ment. By fol­low­ing the Project Life­cy­cle, the team main­tained strong stake­hold­ers engage­ment, incor­po­rat­ed real-world feed­back, and adapt the pro­gram as need­ed. This prac­ti­cal, struc­tured approach sup­ports effec­tive improve­ments in the health sys­tem and enhances the trans­la­tion of research into rou­tine clin­i­cal practice. 

The CEIH team looks for­ward to shar­ing more about this project at the upcom­ing Evi­dence and Imple­men­ta­tion Sum­mit, show­cas­ing how inte­grat­ing a statewide project life­cy­cle with a research-to-action frame­work sup­ports mean­ing­ful change in can­cer care pathways. 

We extend sin­cere thanks to SA Pathol­o­gy for their vital con­tri­bu­tion in enabling high-lev­el data over­sight to eval­u­ate and mon­i­tor germline test­ing rates. We also acknowl­edge the Can­cer SCN and its sub-work­ing group for their exper­tise and ded­i­ca­tion, as well as all clin­i­cians, patients, and stake­hold­ers who pro­vid­ed input through­out the project. 

Want to learn more about this ini­tia­tive, vis­it our project page here:
Statewide Frame­work for Can­cer Care Germline Test­ing

Read the Arti­cle here