AfPA and Cancer Care Explore the Cancer Treatment Experience
- FLASCO
- September 16, 2016
- News
Cancer patients may feel under-informed about their diagnosis, overwhelmed by out-of-pocket expenses and unable to carry out day-to-day activities – despite being confident about their quality of care.
This narrative emerged during an August 9 webinar co-hosted by the Alliance for Patient Access and Cancer Care, which explored Cancer Care’s 2016 Patient Access & Engagement Report. The report included survey results from more than 3,000 cancer patients of varying ethnicities, income, education, geography, age, insurance and cancer type.
What Cancer Patients Don’t Know
Of the patients surveyed, only about half reported having all the information they needed when they first received their diagnosis:
- Less than 50 percenthad adequate details on insurance coverage and where to get emotional support
- Of patients treated in community practices, 57 percentreported not having enough details to determine whether they could continue working
- 88 percentlacked information on clinical trials opportunities
The Alliance for Patient Access’ Alan Marks, MD, described patients’ struggle to “download” all the information provided to them at diagnosis….they have information overload. Ellen Sonet of Cancer Care agreed, adding, “After you tell them they have cancer, they can’t hear anything else. They’re terrified.” Click here to read more
