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Financial Advocacy

The Association of Cancer Care Centers (ACCC) is committed to building the confidence of oncology financial advocates, connecting them with much-needed solutions to improve the patient experience. Through the Financial Advocacy Network’s tools and resources, ACCC empowers cancer programs and practices to proactively integrate financial health into the oncology care continuum and help patients gain access to high-quality care for a better quality of life.

For more information on this project, please contact the ACCC Provider Education department.

Featured Programs

These guidelines were created using a collaborative, consensus-based process to promote and guide the implementation of critical financial advocacy services in cancer programs and practices across the nation.

Whether you are an experienced financial advocate or new to the field, the ACCC Financial Advocacy Boot Camp prepares you to help your patients and your program address the growing issue of financial toxicity.

The ACCC Financial Advocacy Network brought together experts in financial advocacy to create this Playbook—a comprehensive tool to support onboarding and continuous learning for staff who deliver financial advocacy services.

ACCC is developing an educational program that will foster discussions on how to ease provider burden and ensure the best quality care for the patient when dealing with the utilization management technique known as prior authorization.

Learn the fundamentals of biomarker and diagnostic testing as it relates to financial navigation. Gain confidence in your ability to guide patients through the complex insurance process, practice clear communication strategies, and access helpful financial resources.

ACCC, its members, and partners have collected new and updated resources to help you develop, implement, and continue to deliver effective financial advocacy services in your cancer program or practice.

Access the most up-to-date anti-cancer medication assistance and reimbursement programs that are available to help alleviate the financial burden of cancer treatment. Search for applicable Oncology-Related Products and Companies and apply optional Coverage and Assistance Type filters to streamline your results.

The Financial Advocacy Network Community is a private forum for ACCC members to ask questions, share resources and experiences, and offer support for delivering financial advocacy services to your patients. You will need to login to your ACCC member account in order to access this benefit.

Featured Publications

Financial Advocacy Services Guidelines
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Financial-Advocacy-Network-2023-Census-Survey-Results-250x315 Financial Advocacy Network 2023 Census Survey
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Value of Financial Advocacy
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PAG-2021-200x269 Patient Assistance and Reimbursement Guide
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Improving-the-Prior-Authorization-Process-200x269 Improving the Prior Authorization Process
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Fighting Financial Toxicity
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FAN-2019-2020-Census-Survey-100x134 Financial Advocacy Network 2019-2020 Census Survey
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Making-Case-for-Hiring-Financial-Navigator-100x130 Making the Business Case for Hiring a Financial Navigator
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On-Demand Webinars

Supplying Security: How Food Pantries Empower Patients with Cancer
Explore the impact of food insecurity on patients with cancer in this 1-hour, on-demand webinar. Panelists offer tips to create a sustainable food pantry program within a cancer center, ensuring patients and caregivers can readily access nutritious meals. Walk away with strategies to engage community partnerships and volunteers.

Cultivating Care: Growing Sustainable Financial Advocacy Programs to Better Serve Patients

For people living with cancer, the financial challenges of treatment can create significant burdens across the continuum of care. In this webinar, Dr. Margaret Liang will explore some of the drivers and sources of financial toxicity for patients and shed light on the Association of Cancer Care Centers Financial Advocacy Services Guidelines, an evidence-based framework developed by experts and patient advocates to prevent, detect, and mitigate financial hardship during cancer care. Learn how the guidelines, which include an assessment tool that identifies program gaps and opportunities, offer cancer care centers a customizable pathway to expand their capacity to equitably serve patients with cancer.
Utilizing Biomarkers in Cancer Care: Who Has It, Who Needs It, and How To Access It

In this final webinar, hear from our experts Jordan Karwedsky, Financial Counselor, Green Bay Oncology, Wendi Waugh, BS, RT(R)(T), CMD, CRT, Administrative Director of SOMC Cancer Services & Ambulatory Infusion, Southern Ohio Medical Center, and Dr. Michael R. Gieske, Director of Lung Cancer Screening. Join us as we discuss prior authorization challenges in biomarker testing, importance of providing access to biomarker testing for underserved populations, how biomarkers are shaping the future of medicine, as well as what can be done at the policy level to allow for more access.
Putting "Necessity" in Medical Necessity: How To Ensure You Are Maximizing Reimbursement

In the fifth webinar, we will hear from Angie Santiago, CRCS, Manager of Oncology Financial Advocacy, Sidney Kimmel Cancer Center at the Thomas Jefferson University Health System, and Chair of ACCC’s Financial Advocacy Network, and Sarah Shaw, Oncology Program Manager at St. Luke’s Cancer Institute in Boise, ID. Join us as we discuss importance of medical necessity in oncology and how clear denial data can help maximize reimbursement.

More Financial Advocacy Webinars

Cancer Buzz Podcasts

Disparities in Accessing Care for AML Patients: Challenges and Solutions – [Mini Podcast] Ep 145 Mar 25, 2024

In this episode, CANCER BUZZ speaks with Linda Hayward, patient financial advocate at the University of Maryland, Kaufman Cancer Center at Upper Chesapeake Health, about the challenges of treatment and strategies to address disparities in access and care for patients with acute myeloid leukemia.
LIVE from AMCCBS: Financial Advocacy Resources — [MINI PODCAST] Mar 11, 2024

Live this week from the ACCC 50th Annual Meeting and Cancer Center Business Summit (AMCCBS), CANCER BUZZ interviews Wendi Waugh, ACCC financial navigation committee member, about resources for financial advocacy.
NOC Preview: Financial Advocacy Guidelines to Mitigate Financial Toxicity - [MINI PODCAST] Oct 10, 2023

Hear Dr. Margaret Liang, of Cedars-Sinai Cancer Center, Los Angeles, talk about ACCC’s Financial Advocacy Network (FAN) and the Financial Advocacy Services guidelines to help cancer programs address the growing issue of financial toxicity.

More Financial Advocacy Podcasts

From Oncology Issues

How Do You DISCO?
Lauren M. Hamel, et al.

Leveraging the Discussions of Cost App to reduce financial toxicity and improve treatment cost communication.
Compliance: 2022 Oncology Coding Update
Teri Bedard, BA, RT(R)(T), CPC

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services and the American Medical Association's (AMA's) finalized coding updates for calendar year 2022.
Compliance: 2022 Physician and Freestanding Facilities Update
Teri Bedard, BA, RT(R)(T), CPC

The Medicare Physician Fee Schedule (MPFS) for calendar year 2022.
Compliance: 2022 Hospital Regulatory Update
Teri Bedard, BA, RT(R)(T), CPC

The Hospital Outpatient Prospective Payment System (HOPPS) for calendar year 2022.
Views: Put Yourself First Words to Live By
Dr. Cheyenne Bryant

Put yourself first: this mantra is especially important today as we continue to grapple with the implications and fallout from the COVID-19 global pandemic.

More Financial Advocacy Journal Articles

From the ACCCBuzz Blog

New On-Demand Webinar Can Help You Better Support Cancer Caregivers

February 25, 2021

One member of your cancer care team who plays an essential role yet often goes unrecognized is a patient’s caregiver. With the added work caregivers have had in the past year to keep their loved ones safe during the pandemic, the work they do is even more important today. To support cancer care teams looking to address the critical role caregivers play in patient support, ACCC recently launched a free, one-hour, on-demand webinar. In Effectively Engaging Caregivers to Support Your Older Adult Patients With Cancer, three experts on caregiving teach cancer care team members strategies for assessing and engaging patients’ caregivers and giving them the tools and resources they need to support their loved ones.

Caring for caregivers is often an unmet need in the United States. In this country, more than 40 million individuals help support and care for their aged, ill, or disabled loved ones. Of those, approximately 2.8 million care for family members with cancer. Caregivers often provide services to their loved ones that no one else can, making it crucial that they are recognized and supported as essential members of the healthcare team.

The emotional and physical support that caregivers provide can take many forms, including:

Helping with the activities of daily living (e.g., bathing, dressing, meal prep)
Assisting with the instrumental activities of daily living (e.g., making calls, doing chores, providing transportation, tracking finances)
Performing medical tasks such as injections, tube feedings, catheter, colostomy and tracheostomy care

Monitoring treatment side effects

What Makes Cancer Caregivers Unique?

Cancer and its treatment can lead to a multitude of complicated symptoms and side effects, and the course of the disease can run for years or even decades, making the challenges faced by these caregivers unique. Given that the majority of people diagnosed with cancer are older, most of their caregivers support a loved one older than age 65. Compared to caregivers of individuals with other chronic illnesses, cancer caregivers spend more hours per day providing care, provide more intensive care during a shorter period of time, and are more likely to incur out-of-pocket expenses. Individuals with cancer may also:

Periodically require highly skilled care in outpatient or home settings
Experience rapid health deterioration
Be more likely to receive multi-modal therapies
Experience variable symptoms and toxicities

Experience anxiety due to a continual fear of recurrence

The physical and emotional toll of caregiving is real. More than one-half of cancer caregivers report experiencing high levels of stress. Cancer caregivers are more likely to report depressive symptoms and problems with fatigue and sleep, and they are less likely to practice preventive health measures. And more than one-half of cancer caregivers report that they are struggling financially.

To fully understand the specific needs of cancer caregivers, it’s helpful to know their demographics.

Who Are Cancer Caregivers?

Average age is 63
65% are women
66% of are spouses; 17% are children; 4% are parents; 3% are friends/neighbors
36% report being in fair to poor health

Most are the sole caregiver of the patient
60% do not have a college degree
64% have a household income of less than $75,000/year

All members of the cancer care team—from physicians to nurses to social workers—can benefit from participating in the free, on-demand webinar, Effectively Engaging Caregivers to Support Your Older Adult Patients With Cancer. Encourage your colleagues to download it today and start learning more about how to best support the people who support your patients.

Thank you to EMD Serono for supporting this effort through its Embracing Carers^TM program.

References

National Alliance for Caregiving and the AARP Public Policy Institute. Caregiving in the United States 2015 Report. Available online at: https://www.aarp.org/content/dam/aarp/ppi/2015/caregiving-in-the-united-states-2015-report-revised.pdf. Published June 2015.

Bluethmann S, Mariotto A, Rowland J. Anticipating the ‘Silver Tsunami’: Prevalence trajectories and co-morbidity burden among older cancer survivors in the United States. Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev. 2016;25(7):1029–1036.

Jayani R, Hurria A. Caregivers of older adults with cancer. Semin Oncol Nurs. 2014;28(4):221-225.

Hsu T, Loscalzo M, Ramani R, Forman S, et al. Factors associated with high burden in caregivers of older adults with cancer. Cancer. 2014;120(18):2927-2935.