PARTNERS: Promoting Access, Resources and Treatment Through Novel and Equitable Solutions for Cancer Care

In a seminal paper published in 1995, Dr. Harold Freeman proposed that "Patient navigators act as patient advocates for patients with abnormal (Cancer) screening findings."Since that article was published, there has been an extensive literature to support the value of patient navigation services to promote timely and complete receipt of cancer care services for participants newly diagnosed with cancer, as well as along the continuum of cancer treatment, including among underserved populations. Despite this literature, it was not until January 2024 that the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) formally recognized patient navigation as a reimbursable service in clinical settings. A key value that is attributed to PN services is the ability of navigational processes to improve equitable cancer caner service deliver for participants, irrespective of a person's social determinants of health (SDOHs) composition, including factors like financial stability, educational attainment, access to health care, race/ethnicity, and/or rurality of residence.

In response to the unmet and significant need to reduce disparities in cancer care delivery, in 2022, the Merck Foundation launched a national effort to select 8 grantees across the United States (US) to develop a national, sustainable model to improve equitable cancer care services which, in turn, should help reduce the long-standing, pervasive disparities observed in cancer outcomes for persons of minority race/ethnic status and/or SDOHs. As part of this Alliance, the Case CCC and CWRU PARTNERS study team will develop and examine elements of patient navigational processes that promote timely receipt of cancer care services, more effective patient-provider-systems-level communication around cancer care, while addressing the SDOH needs of participants and ensuring receipt of services after participant referrals ("closed loops"). This project proposes an intentional focus on engaging persons who represent medically disadvantaged or fragile populations (defined here as Greater Cleveland area residents who are Black/African American, Hispanic, and/or reside in a zip code with "high" area deprivation indices).