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Colorectal cancer (CRC) is the second most prevalent cancer in Canadian men and women, reflecting both high incidence and a 62% five-year relative survival ratio (observed survival relative to expected survival in a population). The care of CRC patients includes diagnostic and staging investigations, treatment and followup. This involves clinicians across numerous healthcare sectors: primary care, radiology, gastroenterology, surgery, pathology, radiotherapy and chemotherapy. The primary treatment for CRC is complex and multidisciplinary — it involves surgical resection with adjuvant chemotherapy (for colon and rectal cancer) and radiation therapy (for rectal cancer), provided according to clinical and/or pathologic stage of disease. The burden of illness can be reduced by improving the quality of CRC care provided. This paper discusses the measurement of quality of CRC care, quality indicator (QI) initiatives, the feasibility of QI measurement in Canada and considerations when using quality performance data.

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