Practice Assessment Program (PAP)

The PAP performs reviews of retrospective and prospective data on cancer patients treated with unconventional therapies.

The NCI Best Case Series Program

The NCI has a process for evaluating data from CAM practitioners that involves the same rigorous scientific methods employed in evaluating treatment responses with conventional medicine. This process, called the NCI Best Case Series (BCS) Program, provides an independent review of medical records and medical imaging from patients treated with unconventional cancer therapies.

The NCI Best Case Series Program reviews data from CAM practitioners who have used alternative and/or complementary medical approaches to treat cancer patients. This program allows practitioners to share their successes and have them evaluated by experts in both conventional and alternative medicine. NCI evaluates these cases to inform decisions about future NCI-initiated research in these interventions.

Practice Outcomes Monitoring and Evaluation System (POMES)

Practice Outcomes Monitoring and Evaluation System (POMES) is a process for monitoring the outcomes in a small population of patients (usually less than 50) treated with an unconventional intervention as it ordinarily is administered, without altering the regimen's delivery or outcome. The goal of a POMES project is to determine whether a phenomena observed in a retrospective case review is reproducible in a larger population. Results from a POMES project may be used to justify an NCI-initiated clinical trial.