Quantifying and addressing self-defined needs in cancer patients

Area of Science:

• Oncology
• Health Services Research
• Health Economics

Background:

• Cancer treatment incurs substantial financial burdens, leading to depleted savings, bankruptcy, and housing loss for nearly half of patients within two years.
• Financial toxicity is a critical issue in oncology, necessitating innovative solutions to support patients.
• Understanding patient-specific needs is crucial for effective financial and non-financial assistance.

Purpose of the Study:

• To quantify the financial and non-financial needs of a diverse cancer patient cohort.
• To examine patient-specific factors correlating with unique needs.
• To evaluate a novel patient-driven portal for needs assessment.

Main Methods:

• Retrospective evaluation of 223 oncology patients enrolled in the 'We're in This Together' (WiTT) Support Registry™.
• Data collected from two tertiary care cancer centers between January 2023 and December 2023.
• Analysis of assistance requests across Daily Life, Housing, Health, and Transportation domains, including Social Determinants of Health (SDoH) data.

Main Results:

• The majority of patients (54% Hispanic, 65% female, 49% aged 41-60) utilized the portal.
• 2,411 assistance requests were made, averaging 10.8 per patient within 12 months.
• Financial needs constituted 95% of requests, with Housing (33%) and Daily Life (31%) being the most prominent domains. Total financial asks exceeded $1.3 million, averaging $5,921 per patient.

Conclusions:

• A patient-driven portal can facilitate customized resource allocation based on self-reported needs.
• Further research is needed to predict needs based on patient characteristics.
• Developing targeted solutions is essential to address current gaps in patient support.