NCT05448196

Assessing the Impact of a Financial Navigation Program for Patients With Multiple Myeloma

Assessing the Impact of a Financial Navigation Program for Patients With Multiple Myeloma: a Randomized Controlled Trial

• Status: Completed
• Phase: N/A
• Study type: Interventional
• Enrollment: 103 (actual)
• Sponsor: Abramson Cancer Center at Penn Medicine · Academic / Other
• Sex: All
• Age: 18 Years
• Healthy volunteers: Not accepted

Summary

The study is a randomized controlled trial to develop and evaluate a coordinated financial navigation program at the Abramson Cancer Center (ACC) for patients with multiple myeloma and identify barriers to its broader implementation.

Detailed description

Many financial support services are available to patients at the ACC, but are offered by different umbrella departments and rely on self- or clinician-referrals. Financial Advocacy provides assistance with insurance benefits, copayment assistance and hospital-based financial support. Social work assists with costs not directly related to treatment and also connects patients with community resources. Programs that increase coordination between these departments and proactively screen patients for financial hardship may enhance the reach of available services. However, such programs are resource intensive. As such, obtaining a better understanding of their benefits and any barriers to their expansion is a necessary first step to their broader implementation. The long-term goal is to implement evidence-based practices that reduce ACC patients' financial burden. The overall objective of this proposal is to develop and evaluate a coordinated financial navigation program at the ACC for patients with multiple myeloma and identify barriers to its broader implementation. The rationale is that understanding the program's effectiveness and any barriers to its scalability will guide the way in which it could be incorporated into existing ACC workflows to maximize benefit for patients.

Conditions

• Multiple Myeloma

Interventions

Type	Name	Description
OTHER	Coordinated Financial Navigation Program	Patients randomized to the intervention arm will be enrolled in a four-month coordinated financial navigation program. This program will take a more proactive, coordinated, and systematic approach and includes concrete action plans, and frequent and standardized follow-ups. All patients randomized to the intervention arm will meet with the nurse navigator (NN) for an intake. The NN will introduce navigation services and navigator's NN role and describe the financial navigation program (e.g., goals and expectations of the financial advocacy and social work programs). Next, the navigator will elicit from the patient their potential and current barriers to completing the diagnostic test or treatment. The navigator will then perform proactive outreach to these resources and coordinate an action plan with the patient.

Timeline

• Start date: 2022-03-04
• Primary completion: 2023-06-22
• Completion: 2023-06-22
• First posted: 2022-07-07
• Last updated: 2023-06-23

Locations

1 site across 1 country: United States