Evolution of Cancer Support

The Contact Center & Mobile Technology

The American Cancer Society’s Cancer National Cancer Information Center (NCIC) is a cancer helpline available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week to assist the public, patients, and caregivers. During its 25-plus year history, delivering accurate cancer information has always remained a significant core focus at NCIC.

During this same time the field of oncology has seen many innovations and advancements in care including the evolution of patient navigation. The American Cancer Society has a rich history of leading efforts to build navigation programs, advocating for public policy to support patient navigation as well as studying the role and benefits of patient navigation. There are many approaches to patient navigation, but at its core, patient navigation is about connecting people with cancer to the help and support they need to make informed decisions regarding care as they make their way through their cancer journey.

As anyone who has worked directly in various oncology settings knows, receiving a cancer diagnosis is incredibly stressful to say the least. At NCIC, we hear the distress in caller’s voices daily. We listen as callers let us know how complex and confusing navigating healthcare systems can be in the United States. We learn of the barriers causing some cancer patients to experience fragmented and poorly coordinated care as they struggle to understand their diagnosis or access to needed care. ACS has long understood the value of patient navigation is to remove those barriers so patients can receive the timely patient centered care they need to improve their outcomes. Our cancer information staff at the contact center have always, in many ways, practiced navigation to meet patients where they are in their journeys by identifying and matching the patient to their cancer or resource information needs.

Earlier this summer the American Cancer Society launched a three-pronged delivery strategy via a pilot project to make patient navigation available to more cancer patients through a digital app (ACS CARES) which offers tailored information and resources. This app incorporates a needs assessment tool to help cancer patients identify information and resources to help improve outcomes and reduce barriers to care based on their diagnosis. NCIC staff will identify constituents who contact the helpline that may benefit by downloading the CARES (Community Access to Resources, Education and Support) app. The app also offers the constituent a click-to-call feature which allows them to reach NCIC staff as a way to enhance their experience should questions arise related to in-app navigation, information shared or technical challenges they might encounter. Later in the fall, the last piece of the strategy will include community volunteers who will be able to provide navigation either virtually or in person, at select health systems, to our most vulnerable patients.

The questions that our NCIC staff field today continue to be as varied, complex, and wide ranging as the disease itself. As patient navigation continues to evolve, the American Cancer Society is taking a leading role to fill a critical gap in cancer care by leveraging our contact center with the CARES app and volunteer community patient navigators. Together this strategy will enable ACS to meet its’ goal to end cancer as we know it, for everyone.

Submitted by Agnes Beasley: agnes.beasley@cancer.org