Voices

Douglas Flora

Aug 24, 2025, 18:48

Douglas Flora Highlights the Power of Early Cancer Detection and the Need for Policy Change

Douglas Flora, , President-Elect Association of Cancer Care Centers at Association of Cancer Care Centers, shared on LinkedIn:

“As an oncologist, I’ve had more conversations than I can count with patients hearing the words ‘late-stage cancer’ for the first time.

I’ve sat with them in that moment of shock, walked with them through the fear, the hope and the fight. And there is one truth I’ve learned: when we catch cancer early, we change everything. We save lives. We spare families years of unnecessary heartache. We prevent the crushing financial, physical, and emotional burdens that come when the disease is found too late.

That’s why at St. Elizabeth Healthcare we’ve made early detection a cornerstone of our mission. We’ve invested heavily in screening and prevention, particularly in lung cancer, where Kentucky leads the nation in incidence rates. Lung cancer remains the deadliest cancer in the U.S., but when caught early, survival rates soar.

In coming years, it is likely that more sensitive blood-based cancer multicancer early detection screening tests will replace screening scans – and once FDA approved, should be widely available.

The promise here is enormous: MCED tests could save countless lives, reduce the need for aggressive and expensive treatments, and give patients hope when it matters most.

But science can only save lives if public policy keeps up.

The Nancy Gardner Sewell Medicare Multi-Cancer Early Detection (MCED) Screening Coverage Act is designed to do exactly that. It would allow Medicare to cover FDA-approved tests without years of bureaucratic delay—just as it did for other lifesaving cancer screenings. Seniors who face the highest cancer risk deserve that same timely access.

Read below for my thoughts on what we can do right here.”

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