Title:
Patient Navigation Research Program

Contact:

A. Roland Garcia, Ph.D.
Center to Reduce Cancer Health Disparities
National Cancer Institute
Telephone: (301) 496-8589
Email: roland.garcia@nih.hhs.gov

Objective of Project:

The cooperative agreement mechanism will be used to establish effective patient navigator interventions to reduce or eliminate cancer disparities in clinical outcome related to lack of timely access to quality, standard cancer care among racial/ethnic minorities, people of lower socioeconomic status, and other underserved populations. Patient navigation for cancer care refers to support and guidance offered to persons with an abnormal cancer-related finding in accessing the cancer care system and in overcoming barriers to timely, quality standard care. Each research project will encompass one or more of the four cancers (breast, cervical, prostate, and colorectal cancers ) with the greatest disparity statistics in screening and follow-up.

The Patient Navigation Research Program will allow investigators to accomplish the following:

Description of Project:

Patient navigation research designs will address interventions to reduce time to delivery of standard services-non-cancer resolution or cancer diagnosis and treatment-after identifying a suspicious cancer-related finding through community and institutional screening programs. Investigators will conduct needs assessments; select and train navigators; track patients; collect and share collaboratively-determined core quantitative metrics and qualitative process information; conduct rigorous program evaluations; and disseminate findings. The patient navigator will assist patients through the cancer care continuum. Examples of navigation services may include the following: arranging various forms of financial support, arranging for transportation to and childcare during scheduled diagnosis and treatment appointments, identifying and scheduling appointments with culturally-sensitive caregivers, coordinating care among providers, arranging for translation/interpretation services, ensuring coordination of services among medical personnel, ensuring that medical records are available at each scheduled appointment, and providing other services to overcome access barriers encountered during the cancer care process.

After participation in the patient navigator program, patients should have received more timely, definitive diagnoses following screenings and abnormal findings; received more timely treatments following positive diagnoses; and improved their satisfaction with the health care system experience. Successful implementation of a range of patient navigator interventions in diverse, underserved communities will provide a variety of evidence-based, community-based patient navigator interventions that can be implemented in other communities across the nation, thereby contributing substantial progress towards the Healthy People 2010 goal of eliminating cancer health disparities and the NCI’s Director’s challenge goal of eliminating suffering and death due to cancer by 2015.