Skip to main content
AAO-HNSF 2025 Annual Meeting & OTO EXPO Main banner
Icon Legend
This session is not in your schedule.
This session is in your schedule. Click again to remove it.

Panel Presentations

Head and Neck Surgery

Quality Metrics in Head & Neck Cancer: Your Guide to Best Practice

Monday, October 13, 2025
9:30 AM - 10:30 AM EDT
Location: 127
Disclosure(s):
Jessica H. Maxwell, MD, MPH:

faculty for this accredited education activity has no relationship(s) with ineligible companies to disclose.

Vikas Mehta, MD, MPH:

faculty for this accredited education activity has no relationship(s) with ineligible companies to disclose.

Diana N. Kirke, MD MPhil:

faculty for this accredited education activity has no relationship(s) with ineligible companies to disclose.

Patrick T. Tassone, MD:

faculty for this accredited education activity has no relationship(s) with ineligible companies to disclose.

PROGRAM DESCRIPTION: Head and neck cancer is a rapidly evolving field, demanding a multi-disciplinary approach and adherence to evidence-based guidelines in order to optimize patient outcomes. This expert-led panel, Quality Metrics in Head & Neck Cancer: Your Guide to Best Practice, offers Otolaryngologists an opportunity to deepen their understanding of quality metrics that drive outcomes in head and neck cancer patients. Attendees will explore the foundational principles behind these metrics, including a thorough understanding of their importance and practical implementation.
Through interactive audience participation, case studies, and panel discussion, this session will illuminate the nuances of quality benchmarks specific to head and neck cancer care. Topics will include compliance with National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN) guidelines, timeliness of diagnosis and treatment, screening and surveillance guidelines, and patient-reported outcomes. The panelists will also address challenges such as incorporating quality metrics into busy practices, managing variations in resource availability, and navigating updates to national and international standards.
Designed for Otolaryngologists and trainees actively involved in head and neck cancer care, this panel session aims to equip attendees with up-to-date knowledge on best practices in head and neck cancer care.

OUTCOME OBJECTIVE 1: Understand quality metrics surrounding the initiation of treatment for patients with newly diagnosed SCC of the head and neck, including time to surgery, treatment package time, and potential avenues to reduce treatment delays.

OUTCOME OBJECTIVE 2: Discuss evidence-based quality metrics for initiating adjuvant post-operative radiation within six weeks of curative surgery, including the factors that are associated with delays and potential techniques to target high-risk individuals to reduce delays and improve outcomes.

OUTCOME OBJECTIVE 3: Understand evidence-based guidelines for surveillance in patients who have undergone treatment for head and neck cancer, including best practices to address long-term mental and physical treatment effects and imaging modalities to identify early recurrences.

BACKGROUND STATEMENT: Head and neck cancer patients are managed by both fellowship-trained H&N surgeons, as well as general and comprehensive otolaryngologists, therefore it is imperative that current guidelines and ‘best practices’ become common knowledge for all who care for head and neck cancer patients.

Comprehensive Otolaryngology Track Statement :

    Panelist(s)

  • JM

    Jessica H. Maxwell, MD, MPH

    Associate Professor
    Department of Otolaryngology-Head & Neck Surgery, University of Pittsburgh Medical Center
    Pittsburgh, PA, United States

    Disclosure(s):

    faculty for this accredited education activity has no relationship(s) with ineligible companies to disclose.

    • Moderator(s)

  • Vikas Mehta, MD, MPH

    Vice Chair & Associate Professor Otolaryngology/Head and Neck Surgery
    Montefiore Medical Center
    Bronx, NY, United States

    Disclosure(s):

    faculty for this accredited education activity has no relationship(s) with ineligible companies to disclose.

    • Panelist(s)

  • Diana N. Kirke, MD MPhil

    Assistant Professor
    Icahn School Of Medicine At Mount Sinai
    New York, New York, United States

    Disclosure(s):

    faculty for this accredited education activity has no relationship(s) with ineligible companies to disclose.

  • Patrick T. Tassone, MD

    Patrick Tassone, MD
    University of Missouri-Columbia
    Columbia, Missouri, United States

    Disclosure(s):

    faculty for this accredited education activity has no relationship(s) with ineligible companies to disclose.