Advancing Digital Innovation to Improve Equity and Reduce Financial Toxicity in Cancer Care and Research

Cancer is the 2nd leading cause of deaths in the U.S.

These deaths are inequitably distributed and those patients who do survive are 2.5 times more likely to declare bankruptcy than those without disease.

Digital innovation holds promise to reduce health disparities in access and cost and this set of open-access resources helps health systems and their partners address barriers to implementing digital health tools in cancer care and research.

Use the solutions catalog, core competencies, and financial navigation guide, to implement digital solutions to improve healthcare access, cost, and clinical outcomes for your patients. And use the Digital Navigation ROI Calculator and Digitally Enabled Patient Navigation Blueprint to quantify and maximize the ROI of your investments in digitally enabled patient navigation.

By using these resources, you can unlock the promise of digital innovation to minimize disparities in cancer care access and out-of-pocket cost measures associated with cancer, ensuring that financial worries do not overshadow the fight for recovery.

Use these Resources to Further Your Digital Innovation Strategy

Digitally Enabled Patient Navigation Blueprint

By using this resource, you’ll learn best practices for program design to make digital navigation programming more accessible with a standardized workflow, EHR-adaption build guides, and reimbursement information.

Digital Navigation ROI Calculator

Use the Digital Navigation ROI Calculator to demonstrate the ROI that your system may accrue after investing in digital patient navigation.

Health System Core Competencies Guide

Use the core competencies guide to plan and implement your digital strategy to improve equity in access to cancer care and reduce out-of-pocket cost for your patients.

The Solutions Catalog

Review fit-for-purpose solutions to implement your digital strategy for improving equity in access to cancer treatment and reducing patient financial toxicity.

Financial Navigation Guide

Use this guide to learn how financial navigators can support cancer patients along their journeys.

Terms to Know

Equity in Access to Cancer Care

Flip to see content

Equity in access to cancer care in the Core Competencies guide refers to timely patient access to all-phase cancer care (e.g. screening, active treatment, and survivorship) as well as patient access to cancer clinical trials as a part of their care. (Adapted from: 1, 2, 3)

Financial Toxicity

Flip to see content

Financial toxicity refers to the cumulative impact of the economic, health, and psychosocial harm caused by the direct and indirect expenses that accrue to patients and their families as a result of a cancer diagnosis. Its potential results include material hardship, psychosocial distress, and treatment non-adherence. (Adapted from: 1, 2, 3, 4)

Partners

A diverse, multi-stakeholder team of leaders in cancer care, research, digital innovation, and regulatory science – alongside patient experts – are digging into the root causes of health inequity and financial toxicity in cancer. This work will help accelerate human-centered digital innovation to solve some of the most pressing challenges facing cancer patients, providers, and researchers.