FORT WASHINGTON, PA--(Marketwired - August 20, 2013) - The National Comprehensive Cancer Network® (NCCN®) has launched the NCCN International Educational Activities Program (NCCN IEAP) to recognize ex-U.S. physicians who demonstrate an understanding of the NCCN Clinical Practice Guidelines in Oncology (NCCN Guidelines®) with the successful completion of required NCCN Guidelines® educational content hours.

"NCCN has launched the NCCN IEAP in response to the ever increasing global influence of and demand for the NCCN Guidelines," said Robert W. Carlson, MD, CEO, NCCN. "Today, nearly half of all registered users of NCCN.org who utilize the NCCN Guidelines report living outside the United States."

NCCN IEAP completion certificates are available for demonstration of general knowledge of the NCCN Guidelines and for specific disease sites, including breast, colorectal, and lung cancers, and non-Hodgkin's lymphomas. Additional tumor types are forthcoming.

An NCCN IEAP completion certificate requires the successful completion of 12 NCCN educational hours per year, including a module focused on NCCN Guidelines development, plus NCCN educational content hours in at least four disease types. These educational hours may be completed online or in-person. Also available are disease-specific completion certificates, in which physicians successfully complete the 12 hours as described above, as well as eight hours of disease-specific education for one cancer type, totaling 20 educational hours. Physicians may qualify for multiple disease-specific completion certificates.

The NCCN IEAP program requirements and educational resources are available on the NCCN Continuing Education Portal. Registration is required.

About the National Comprehensive Cancer Network
The National Comprehensive Cancer Network® (NCCN®), a not-for-profit alliance of 23 of the world's leading cancer centers, is dedicated to improving the quality, effectiveness, and efficiency of care provided to patients with cancer. Through the leadership and expertise of clinical professionals at NCCN Member Institutions, NCCN develops resources that present valuable information to the numerous stakeholders in the health care delivery system. As the arbiter of high-quality cancer care, NCCN promotes the importance of continuous quality improvement and recognizes the significance of creating clinical practice guidelines appropriate for use by patients, clinicians, and other health care decision-makers. The primary goal of all NCCN initiatives is to improve the quality, effectiveness, and efficiency of oncology practice so patients can live better lives.

The NCCN Member Institutions are: City of Hope Comprehensive Cancer Center, Los Angeles, CA; Dana-Farber/Brigham and Women's Cancer Center | Massachusetts General Hospital Cancer Center, Boston, MA; Duke Cancer Institute, Durham, NC; Fox Chase Cancer Center, Philadelphia, PA; Huntsman Cancer Institute at the University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT; Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center/Seattle Cancer Care Alliance, Seattle, WA; The Sidney Kimmel Comprehensive Cancer Center at Johns Hopkins, Baltimore, MD; Robert H. Lurie Comprehensive Cancer Center of Northwestern University, Chicago, IL; Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, New York, NY; Moffitt Cancer Center, Tampa, FL; The Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center - James Cancer Hospital and Solove Research Institute, Columbus, OH; Roswell Park Cancer Institute, Buffalo, NY; Siteman Cancer Center at Barnes-Jewish Hospital and Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, MO; St. Jude Children's Research Hospital/The University of Tennessee Health Science Center, Memphis, TN; Stanford Cancer Institute, Stanford, CA; University of Alabama at Birmingham Comprehensive Cancer Center, Birmingham, AL; UC San Diego Moores Cancer Center, La Jolla, CA; UCSF Helen Diller Family Comprehensive Cancer Center, San Francisco, CA; University of Colorado Cancer Center, Aurora, CO; University of Michigan Comprehensive Cancer Center, Ann Arbor, MI; UNMC Eppley Cancer Center at The Nebraska Medical Center, Omaha, NE; The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, TX; and Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center, Nashville, TN.

Clinicians, visit NCCN.org. Patients and caregivers, visit NCCN.org/patients.