The creation of the NavigateCancer Foundation was a natural evolution of my career as a "friend of a friend of a friend" called me to assist in guiding their cancer care. Calls came with the diagnosis or the relapse. “What does this really mean? Am I going to die? What’s my next step? Where should I go? What do I ask the doctor and what is my doctor not telling me?”
 With days to weeks to go before seeing a specialist, these people went to the internet in search of answers and to calm their fears. Immediately, they were overwhelmed with the volume of cancer information. Soon, most realized that they lacked the ability to place the information into a proper context or how to appropriately give weight to a particular research paper or statistic. They said, “I don’t know what I am reading” or “I don’t think this applies to me, does it”. Quickly, they got internet confusion and overload. They did not understand the medical lingo, research papers, clinical trials or they got lost in the links.
The computer engineer with prostate cancer called confused because the surgeon wanted to operate, the radiation doctor wanted to radiate and the urologist wanted to try hormones. The anxious wife of a newly diagnosed brain cancer patient asked, “How do we know if we need a second opinion?” The young, breast cancer patient suffering from hot flashes asked, “My doctor doesn’t know anything about acupuncture, do you?” Weekends or nights were long before getting to their next appointment and when they finally did get to see their oncologist, often times they left with even more questions.
There was the call from a patient who needed help because their general physician was prescribing their chemotherapy since the nearest cancer center was four hours away. Whew! There were calls about suggestions for better nausea control, calls on what questions to ask the doctor, calls on why their doctor wasn’t using the treatment reported in the paper and calls for support and reassurance. And these were from patients who were at reputable cancer clinics.
It became increasingly clear, that there are gaps in cancer care and that for better or for worse, cancer patients have to take more control of their care. And that was when the NavigateCancer Foundation was launched.
Health Care System Woes Cause Care Gaps
Why should cancer patients have to advocate more for themselves at a time when they have enough to deal with? The reasons are many but mostly related to changes in health care driven by the bottom line that make it more difficult for cancer patients to access quality.
Taking care of a cancer patient takes a lot of time and a lot of money and oncology practices have less of both. Insurance companies require more of physicians (another topic for another day) and physicians must deal with institutional pressures of seeing more patients to generate more revenue. The clinic visit becomes compressed and focused on the physician’s agenda with little time for patient questions or time to process.
Unfortunately, decreasing face time with health care professionals and difficulties in communicating with them outside of the exam room are problems that aren’t going away anytime soon. Projected shortages of oncologists is occurring at the same time when there will be more cancer patients to take care of. (Boomers are aging and with age, comes cancer.) Also, cancer patients are surviving longer. And soon, the nursing shortage will be critical in many states.
Cancer doctors have their hands full just keeping up with the lightening-speed discoveries in understanding cancer (well over 100 different diseases) and the new treatments. And soon, a patient’s treatment will be an individualized recipe for their specific tumor. There is no more “one size fits all” in treating a certain cancer at a certain stage. This good news forces oncologists to remain tumor specialists. Therefore, we can no longer expect cancer doctors to be everything to everyone as they may have been in the past.
Health disparities in cancer care among races and geographic locations continue to widen. Insurance coverage is shrinking as the premiums are disproportionately increasing in relation to overall inflation and worker’s wages. The uninsured and underinsured numbers keep rising. Drug costs keep soaring. Decreased doctor reimbursements and increased overhead cause financial strain. And patient support services are usually the last to get funded.
Of course, cancer centers and clinics provide outstanding cancer care and research. And more embrace the holistic approach than ever before. But physicians and cancer programs are dealing with innumerable and sometimes, unfair constraints disabling them from completely caring for their patients as they would like to.
As the health care system gaps widen and cancer care continues to become more complex and more individualized, the net result is the stark reality that cancer patients do not receive all of the education, advocacy, services and support they need or deserve.
Cancer Patients Need Gap Services
The NavigateCancer Foundation is a resource that will help to decrease the impact of these issues on cancer patients and their families by filling cancer care gaps. We provide individual education and are accessible to any patient whether they live in a remote area of the country or have no health insurance.
We can help you ask the right questions, help you to make the best choices and provide you with the confidence to create your quality cancer care. Our goal is to help chart your course and guide you through the fog that cancer creates. We will help you understand, recognize and attain quality cancer care for you or your family member.
We invite you to come aboard and Create a NavigateCancer Account. Our site is secure (email is not). Online consultation is free. (There are no gimmicks or tricks.) It is unbiased. (We have no dogs in any race.) We are passionate. (We will help people from all walks of life.) We are qualified. (We are not hospital volunteers. We are highly trained oncology professionals.) And we care. (That’s our bottom line.)
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