ACS Collaborative May Improve Compliance in Lung Nodal Assessment - Summary - MDSpire

ACS Collaborative May Improve Compliance in Lung Nodal Assessment

  • By

  • Andrea Surnit

  • May 20, 2026

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Objective:

To evaluate the impact of a national quality-improvement collaborative on compliance with lung cancer surgical operative standards across US cancer programs.

Key Findings:
  • Hospital-level median compliance increased from 68% to 91%.
  • The number of programs achieving at least 80% compliance rose from 41% to 67%.
  • Community programs showed the largest compliance increase of 37 percentage points.
  • 74% of patients received compliant care, with higher compliance in integrated network programs and robotic-assisted surgeries.
  • Failure to perform required lymphadenectomy accounted for 74% of noncompliant cases.
Interpretation:

Participation in the Lung NODES collaborative significantly improved compliance with lymph node assessment standards, indicating the potential effectiveness of national quality improvement initiatives.

Limitations:
  • Study limited to Commission on Cancer–accredited hospitals, affecting generalizability.
  • Exclusion of 57 hospitals that did not submit cases during the final collection period.
  • Lack of data on survival, postoperative complications, nodal upstaging, or systemic therapy use.
  • Absence of a control group complicates the assessment of improvement attributable to the intervention.
Conclusion:

National quality improvement collaboratives may effectively address gaps in high-quality cancer care delivery.

Original Source(s)

ACS Collaborative May Improve Compliance in Lung Nodal Assessment

  • by Andrea Surnit

  • May 20, 2026

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