By 2015, Commission on Cancer Standard 3.1 calls for cancer programs to have a patient navigation process to address healthcare disparities and barriers to care for patients. The GW Cancer Institute has developed a system-wide patient support program that helps to navigate patients through the cancer continuum. Lay navigators work in concert with a social worker and nurse navigators to guide patients from screening through treatment and into survivorship care, screening and supporting patients in high distress and providing nutrition services, counseling, and medication management.
Furthermore, this program has been leveraged to create a Citywide Patient Navigation Network that connects primary care, tertiary care, and community-based organizations. In the last year, this network served 2,840 individuals in the Washington, DC, metropolitan area. Of those, 86% were minority populations and nearly 30% were uninsured.
Listen to a full recording of GWCI's presentation at the ACCC 30th National Oncology Conference. (Available to ACCC members only.)