ACCC Releases Financial Advocacy Services Guidelines

Contact:
Summer Johnson
sjohnson@riesterinfluence.com

Consensus-Based Guidelines are Oncology’s Only Standardized Financial Guidelines to Assist Patients

Rockville, MD —The Association of Community Cancer Centers (ACCC) today announced the release of its new consensus-based Oncology Financial Advocacy Services Guidelines, a comprehensive framework developed to aid cancer programs and practices deliver services to patients that prevent, detect and mitigate financial hardship during cancer care.

The Guidelines are the only standardized framework exclusively for oncology financial navigators.

ACCC, along with its partners, Triage Cancer, CancerCare, the National Patient Advocate Foundation, and the Academy for Oncology Nurse and Patient Navigators, convened a panel of financial advocacy experts and patient advocates representing 39 organizations to follow a consensus-driven methodology to develop the Guidelines.

Financial hardship from cancer treatment negatively impacts outcomes and quality of life for people with cancer and their families, and disproportionately impacts people who experience disparities due to social determinants of health. The National Institutes of Health reports that cancer survivors are 2.7 times more likely to file for bankruptcy, and financial distress affects 22% - 64% of working-age survivors. Financial advocacy aims to integrate financial health into the cancer care continuum, helping patients gain access to affordable, high-quality care for improved quality of life.

“Research shows how incredibly impactful—and effective—financial advocacy services are for patients. All patients deserve the right to access these services,” said Angie Santiago, CRCS, manager of Oncology Financial Advocacy at the Sidney Kimmel Cancer Center at Thomas Jefferson University Health system in Philadelphia, PA, and chair of ACCC’s Financial Advocacy Network. “ACCC and its partners see the Financial Advocacy Services Guidelines as a foundational step to improving our patients’ ability to access these critical services and receive affordable, high-quality, and comprehensive cancer care.”

The Guidelines offer an evidence-based framework for cancer programs and practices of any size or resource-level to implement financial advocacy programs for the patients they serve, highlighting key services, program management, and partner engagement functions.

Through its Financial Advocacy Network, ACCC advances professional and program development for the delivery of oncology financial advocacy services.  Over the past decade, many cancer programs and practices have created and implemented interventions to help patients and their families understand and navigate their healthcare coverage, access financial assistance programs and remove barriers to affording cancer care.

The Oncology Financial Advocacy Services Guidelines are available for cancer centers to access for free through the ACCC website.

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The ACCC Financial Advocacy Network is a community of multidisciplinary care team members, professional organizations, and patient advocacy partners dedicated to helping every patient with cancer and their families access affordable, quality cancer care. Visit www.accc-cancer.org/fan to learn more.

The ACCC Financial Advocacy Network is funded by Pfizer, Genentech, Bristol Myers Squibb, Daiichi-Sankyo, Janssen and Pharmacyclics.