In 2019, Winston-Salem, N.C.-based Atrium Health Wake Forest Baptist — part of Charlotte, N.C.-based Advocate Health — established a tumor board to address the effects of financial toxicity among patients at the Atrium Health Levine Cancer Institute.
Five-years after its establishment, researchers analyzed the tumor board’s ability to alleviate the financial burden of cancer care. Results from the analysis were published April 16 in the Journal of the National Comprehensive Cancer Network.
Atrium Health Levine Cancer Institute’s Financial Toxicity Tumor Board functioned like standard multidisciplinary disease-focused tumor boards and included members from clinical, supportive and administrative domains across the institute, according to an April 29 news release from the health system.
The board would review a referred patient’s case to see if they qualified for financial assistance. Financial navigators were utilized to help patients apply for grants. The board would also investigate health insurance claim denials, often leading to claims being approved.
More than 9,000 patients were provided with copay assistance and more than 16,000 patients received free medication, totaling in about $400 million in savings for the patients.
“This model should become a new standard of care to improve the financial well-being of cancer patients,” Thomas Knight, MD, oncologist and chair of the Financial Toxicity Tumor Board at Atrium Health Levine Cancer, said in the release.
Read the full five-year analysis here.
