Hearing the words “you have cancer,” can be overwhelming for a patient, often prompting questions about what’s next — and what a family can do to assist.
Cancer navigators can help provide guidance and support to patients and their families on what appointments need to be made, and which tests have to be taken, to enable a patient to begin appropriate treatment, promptly.
Monday, Danielle Carnival, director for health outcomes for the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy — part of the Biden administration’s Cancer Moonshot — will visit the UVA Comprehensive Cancer Center in Charlottesville, Virginia.
Friday, the White House issued a news release reporting Medicare and seven major health insurance companies, serving 150 million patients, will now pay for certain cancer navigation services.
“Navigators guide families through every step of their cancer journey,” according to the White House statement.
“Navigators have been shown to improve health outcomes and the patient experience by reducing times between diagnosis and treatment, and increasing treatment completion.”
According to the White House, the health insurers that signed on are: Aetna, a CVS Health company; Blue Cross Blue Shield of Minnesota, Elevance Health; Health Alliance Plan, Humana, Priority Health and Select Health.
In addition, 40 comprehensive cancer centers — including UVA Comprehensive Cancer Center and University of Maryland Marlene and Stewart Greenebaum Comprehensive Cancer Center — will provide appropriate CPT codes and track utilization and reimbursement metrics for the codes.
The cancer centers will capture some patient demographics, including geography, race and ethnicity, as well as sex and gender, as part of the Cancer Moonshot’s goal of making sure services are provided equitably.
“For the first time ever, millions of Americans will be able to access much-needed support, like clinical care coordination, health education, patient self-advocacy training, health system navigation, and connection to community-based social services to address food and housing insecurity, transportation needs, or other issues that could interfere with treatment,” according to the White House’s statement.
Why UVA Health is highlighting cancer screenings for Hispanic and Latino patients
Meanwhile, UVA Health is reaching out to Hispanic patients to get screened in March as part of Colorectal Cancer Awareness Month.
“Colorectal cancer is the third leading cause of death in women and the second in Hispanic men,” said Keyri Lopez-Godoy, a navigation outreach specialist at the UVA Cancer Center.
Lopez-Godoy said many people are unaware that health guidelines call for screenings starting at age 45.
“The barriers that we’re seeing in people not completing their colorectal cancer screenings are lack of awareness of guidelines, like understanding what is even colorectal cancer,” Lopez-Godoy told WTOP.
Other barriers include, “fear,” over what test results could unveil and concern over affording the cost, Lopez-Godoy said.
Colonoscopies, which are used to find and help prevent colon cancer, are among those tests. UVA also encourages the use of home kits called FIT — Fecal Immunochemical Test. The test requires a stool sample, which is returned to the lab for testing.
“We know why cancer screenings are important, let’s focus on what you can do about it,” Lopez-Godoy said. “This test that could potentially save your life and it’s meant to detect cancer early and hopefully prevent it.”
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