Technology-Assisted Financial Navigation
To support patients and their caregivers as they navigate the financial cost of a cancer diagnosis, health systems should:
Objective 1: Digitize Health-Related Social Needs Screening
Digital Solution Value Proposition: EHR and Patient Portals to Digitize Risk Screening
How to deploy: Approaches to AI/ML Deployment
Implementing digital risk assessment instruments via patient portal administered surveys is promising for increasing the volume of patients screened and for tracking patients across multiple screens.
To ensure broad uptake of the instrument, health systems can leverage nurse navigators where use of the patient portal is less likely.
Health systems can embed third-party privacy-preserving financial assistance applications into the EHR to help patients navigate both cancer drug costs and insurance coverage.
These applications screen existing patient data, match patient profiles with an external database of financial assistance programs, and trigger EHR alerts for providers to use in health care interaction.
Objective 2: Automate Connections to Financial Support Services
Digital Solution Value Proposition: Automating Connections to Financial Support Services
The Impact:
Pilot programs leveraging nurse navigator education, best practice advisory alerts, and EHR-embedded support service referral forms have shown an increase of over 2,000% in patient referrals to Leukemia & Lymphoma Society.
How to deploy: Approaches to Virtual Care Deployment
- Embed referral processes directly into the EHR to provide automated access to applications for financial assistance.
- Leverage this technology to track changes in the number of referrals over time.
Objective 3: Leverage Technology for Patient Engagement on Cost of Care
Digital Solution Value Proposition: Direct-to-Patient Solutions for Patient Engagement on Cost Of Care
How to deploy: Approaches for Direct-to Patient Solution Deployment
Consider allowing patients to engage with non-clinical staff around cost of care and insurance issues, such as prior authorization, via the patient portal.
Making non-clinical healthcare staff available to address patient questions via the patient portal could reduce provider administrative burden, allowing oncologists to focus on clinical communications and allowing patients to share in decision-making about cost.
Oncologists are often underprepared to discuss the financial cost of care with cancer patients due to lack of access to accurate cost information or concerns that discussions might disrupt the provider-patient relationship.
Digital solutions can help patients and providers navigate discussions about treatment cost, as recommended by the majority of cancer clinical practice guidelines.
A Closer Look: Technology-Assisted Patient Financial Navigation Journey
Defining Success & Choosing Solutions
Key performance indicators (KPIs) can be used to measure successful digital health solution implementation. Select KPIs that:
Are measurable
Align with existing data workflows
Work within your system’s existing strategy to improve patient access
Key examples
- All patients screened for risk of financial toxicity using FACIT-COST System.
- % Improvement in FACIT-COST score for pre-defined subset of patients after 1 year of implementation.
- % Increase in number of providers trained on how to embed cost of care conversations into treatment plan.
- % Increase in the number of provider-patient cost conversations.
- % Increase in the number of connections to needed financial support services.
Access Example Solutions
Here is a guide of existing solutions to expedite time to diagnosis and treatment; support the provision of high-quality virtual care; and extend clinical research options.
