Myeloma Action Month 2026
See the person beyond the diagnosis, then make every clinical and access transition work around the life they are living.
Myeloma care works best when it is organized around the person.
The International Myeloma Foundation’s 2026 Myeloma Action Month campaign, #MoreThanMyeloma, celebrates how people live with, rather than for, their myeloma diagnosis. That framing is a useful operating standard for health systems. Myeloma care involves repeated testing, multiple treatment lines, infusions, supportive care, and long-term monitoring, and each of those can either fit around a person’s life or quietly take it over.
Myeloma is a significant and growing workload for oncology and hematology services. NCI’s SEER program estimates 36,000 new cases of myeloma in the United States in 2026, with a median age at diagnosis of 69. An older population with other health conditions makes coordination across oncology, primary care, nephrology, orthopedics, pharmacy, and palliative care especially important.
The long view matters. SEER reports five-year relative survival of 63.7% for myeloma, based on 2016–2022 data. Many people therefore live with myeloma for years, moving through treatment decisions, maintenance, relapse, and supportive care. Leaders should treat myeloma as a longitudinal service line with durable ownership, not a series of disconnected visits.
Access is where many plans break down. Treatment can depend on specialty pharmacy, infusion capacity, transplant or cellular therapy referral, prior authorization, transportation, and financial counseling. When any of these stall, the person absorbs the delay. Organizing these steps as a coordinated route, with named navigators and visible measures, is how a health system turns #MoreThanMyeloma into daily practice.
Assign a named navigator or coordinator to every person with active myeloma and measure the time from each treatment decision to treatment start.
NCI’s SEER program estimates 36,000 new cases of myeloma in the United States in 2026.
SEER reports a five-year relative survival of 63.7% for myeloma, based on 2016–2022 data.
SEER reports that the median age at myeloma diagnosis is 69.
Figures are summarized from the authoritative sources linked below. Definitions and denominators should be read with each source.
Build a route that follows the person, not the department.
Myeloma care spans diagnosis, treatment, access, supportive care, and monitoring over many years.
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Diagnose and stage
Coordinate laboratory, imaging, and specialist review so results return to one accountable hematology or oncology clinician.
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Decide and start treatment
Pair each treatment decision with pharmacy, infusion, authorization, and referral steps owned by a navigator.
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Support the whole person
Build supportive care, symptom management, financial counseling, and palliative care into the plan from the start.
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Monitor over time
Schedule ongoing monitoring and review so changes are recognized and acted on promptly.
Reliability rule: Every person with active myeloma should know who coordinates their care and how to reach them.
Track the moments that decide experience and outcomes.
These instruments are local management prompts; clinical standards remain with the treating teams.
Diagnostic resolution
Track time from suspected myeloma to a confirmed diagnosis and treatment plan.
Treatment start
Track how long it takes to begin therapy once a decision is made.
Supportive care
Track whether supportive and palliative care needs are assessed.
Monitoring reliability
Track whether planned monitoring happens on schedule.
Secure the transitions between services.
Myeloma care depends on several teams handing information and responsibility cleanly.
From primary care or another specialty to hematology
- Send abnormal results and the reason for referral.
- Share relevant history, including kidney and bone concerns.
- Confirm the referral was received and scheduled.
From hematology to pharmacy, infusion, and access teams
- Communicate the treatment decision and schedule.
- Start authorization and financial counseling promptly.
- Tell the person who to contact about access delays.
From active treatment to ongoing monitoring and support
- Document the monitoring plan and responsible clinician.
- Share supportive and palliative care plans with primary care.
- Review goals with the person and family at agreed intervals.
Each handoff should leave the person with fewer tasks to coordinate, not more.
Give leadership four questions to ask every quarter.
A short scorecard keeps myeloma care visible across service lines.
| Signal | Executive question | Accountable owner | Review cadence |
|---|---|---|---|
| Diagnosis | Are people with suspected myeloma reaching a confirmed plan promptly? | Hematology and oncology leaders | Monthly |
| Access | Are treatment starts delayed by authorization, pharmacy, or infusion capacity? | Specialty pharmacy and access leaders | Monthly |
| Support | Are supportive and palliative care needs assessed and addressed? | Supportive and palliative care leaders | Quarterly |
| Continuity | Does every person with active myeloma have a named coordinator? | Cancer service line leader | Quarterly |
Turn Myeloma Action Month into a 90-day plan.
March provides a visible starting point for measured improvement.
Review recent myeloma cases from first abnormal result to ongoing monitoring. Identify the step where people waited longest or were asked to coordinate their own care. Change one process, measure it, and report back. Keep the person’s perspective in every review.
Days 1–30: Listen and map
- Interview people with myeloma and families about their experience.
- Map the route from diagnosis to monitoring.
- Pull baseline treatment-start intervals.
Days 31–60: Coordinate
- Assign navigators or coordinators for active patients.
- Standardize authorization and financial counseling triggers.
- Add supportive care assessment to the care plan.
Days 61–90: Measure
- Compare treatment-start intervals to baseline.
- Review supportive care assessment rates.
- Share results with the cancer committee and frontline teams.
See the person first, then fix the route.
Myeloma Action Month 2026 invites everyone to recognize people as #MoreThanMyeloma; health systems can reflect that by making every transition work around the life each person is living.
Turn Myeloma Action Month into accountable action.
See the person beyond the diagnosis, then make every clinical and access transition work around the life they are living.
Leadership focus
Organize myeloma diagnosis, treatment, access, supportive care, and monitoring around the person.
Workforce lens
Brief hematology, oncology, pharmacy, infusion, access, and supportive care teams on navigator ownership and treatment-start measures.
Patient and community lens
Ask people with myeloma what matters most in their lives and build treatment scheduling and support around those priorities.
Equity and access lens
Review whether transportation, cost, language, or distance affect access to treatment, cellular therapy referral, and supportive care.
Inspect the operating sequence
Myeloma Action Month 2026 carries the International Myeloma Foundation’s #MoreThanMyeloma message. People often live with myeloma for years, moving through many services. Our goal this month is to make sure one coordinator and one route hold that care together.
- 01Diagnose and stage
- 02Decide and start treatment
- 03Support the whole person
- 04Monitor over time
Leadership actions for this week
- Name an executive sponsor and frontline operating owner.
- Ask people using and operating the pathway where ownership becomes unclear.
- Test one representative route from first question to acknowledged next step.
- Select one barrier that can be corrected without overstating the evidence.
- Set a review date and define how completion will be verified.
Candidate measures
Define every numerator, denominator where relevant, owner, data source, exclusions, cadence, and limitation locally. These are management prompts, not external benchmarks.
- Median days from first abnormal result to documented treatment plan
- Median and 90th-percentile days from treatment decision to first dose
- Share of patients with active myeloma with a documented supportive care assessment
Department readiness checklist
- The public and staff entry points match the actual approved process.
- A specific role accepts each request, referral, or escalation.
- Handoffs include acknowledgment and a visible unresolved state.
- Language, disability, digital, transportation, and trust barriers receive explicit review.
- Communications do not introduce unsupported themes, statistics, or clinical advice.
- A named leader will review what changed after the observance.
Intended audiences
- Executive and Operational Leaders
- Patient Experience and Access Leaders
Staff communication template
During Myeloma Action Month, our organization will review how people with myeloma move from diagnosis through treatment and monitoring. Please share where patients wait or have to coordinate their own care.
Community communication template
March is Myeloma Action Month. We join the International Myeloma Foundation in recognizing people living with myeloma as #MoreThanMyeloma and in supporting their families and caregivers.
Measurement worksheet
- Signal
- What observable condition will show whether the route works?
- Definition
- What is included, excluded, and counted?
- Owner
- Who reviews the signal and acts on exceptions?
- Cadence
- When will leaders review it?
- Equity check
- Which differences require protected, locally appropriate review?
- Closure
- What evidence will confirm the improvement was completed?
Authoritative resources
- 2026 Myeloma Action Month: Light the World Red to Show That You Are #MoreThanMyeloma!, International Myeloma Foundation
- Cancer Stat Facts: Myeloma, National Cancer Institute SEER Program
Verification note: The International Myeloma Foundation confirms Myeloma Action Month in March 2026 and the #MoreThanMyeloma campaign, which celebrates how people live with, rather than for, their myeloma diagnosis.