Financial Advocacy & Patient Assistance Resources

The Wisconsin Association of Hematology and Oncology (WAHO) is committed to providing physicians and their patients with the tools they need to navigate the complexities of paying for cancer treatment. Below is a library of resources provided by WAHO and the Association of Community Cancer Centers (ACCC) to help the multidisciplinary cancer team integrate financial health practices and help patients gain access to high-quality care.

In January 2022, ACCC upgraded its Patient Assistance & Reimbursement Guide print publication to a searchable, digital format!

You can now find the most up-to-date information on oncology assistance and reimbursement programs by searching for a prescribed product or company name, then further streamline your search by applying coverage and assistance-type filters.

Access details on all available financial assistance and reimbursement program benefits, application information, and eligibility criteria. Listings include direct links to external websites and company phone numbers and will be updated in real-time, so you’ll always have access to the latest information and external program links.

The digital Guide links directly to the ICD-10 codes website and the Library of NCCN Compendia for current indications. These resources were identified by ACCC members as the most up-to-date and authoritative source for this information.

ACCC Digital Patient Assistance & Reimbursement Guide

Financial Advocacy Playbook

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. In it you will find the basics of financial advocacy, including common terminology and definitions, and details on benefits verification, financial distress screening, prior authorizations, insurance education and optimization, and how to secure available financial assistance options for qualifying patients..
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Financial Advocacy Toolkit

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. These resources include guides and tools for building financial advocacy programs, communicating with patients, screening for financial distress, optimizing insurance coverage, performing prior authorizations, handling denials and appeals, and so much more.
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Financial Advocacy Bootcamp

The ACCC Financial Advocacy Boot Camp offers powerful training to boost Your financial navigation services. Two sets of dynamic online courses offer the tools your staff needs to help patients pay for treatment—while maximizing reimbursement at your program. Free registration is a benefit of IOS membership.
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Patient Assistance Brochure

Dealing with a cancer diagnosis is stressful enough without having to worry about how to pay for treatment. This patient-facing brochure provides your patients with easily digestible information for exploring financial assistance programs through drug manufacturers and nonprofit organizations.
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Financial Advocacy Services Guidelines

The ACCC Financial Advocacy Services Guidelines address the critical need for early intervention by financial advocates to mitigate the financial burden of cancer. Whether your program is already providing financial advocacy services or is just in the planning stages, these guidelines offer the structure and support needed to advance your work.
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The Best (and Worst) of 2020

December 30, 2020

At the risk of repeating a phrase that has been exhausted this year, the dawn of 2020 brought with it unprecedented times. Whereas a pandemic on its own would have dominated everything else, this year also brought on an economic depression; a racial awakening; record-breaking wildfires, hurricanes, and floods; political turmoil on an extraordinary scale; and a host of additional unique phenomena. (Murder hornets, anyone?)

Healthcare, of course, played a huge (Dare I say, “unprecedented”?) role in the unfolding of the events of 2020, as the world scrambled to provide care for millions of patients stricken with COVID-19 as well as patients with other ailments who were caught up in the upheaval of disrupted healthcare systems.

Cancer care providers have had to deal with the fallout of COVID-19 on their specific practices and patient populations. Patients in active treatment have had to balance their need to continue therapy with the risk of having a compromised immune system amidst a pandemic. Healthcare clinicians and staff have reported exhaustion and burnout that have endangered themselves and their patients. Regular cancer screenings have taken a nosedive, leading to the specter of large numbers of patients being diagnosed too late. Halted or delayed clinical trials have many researchers fearing the pandemic will delay or cancel promising scientific progress. And sudden changes in reimbursement to accommodate new care delivery models have left practices struggling to accurately bill for their services.

These concerns are mirrored in our blog posts this year, and doubtless many of them will be revisited in the year to come. Below are the posts that you found most valuable this year. As you review the helpful information they contain, please take a moment and tell us which topics you’d like us to address in our blog in 2021. Also let us know if you are interested in writing a guest blog about topics of interest to community cancer centers, or if you think you have something to offer as an expert interviewee. Email your suggestions to Barbara Gabriel at bgabriel@accc-cancer.org. We look forward to hearing from you.

Top ACCCBuzz posts of 2020

Publications

Fighting Financial Toxicity
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Making-Case-for-Hiring-Financial-Navigator-100x130 Making the Business Case for Hiring a Financial Navigator
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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.