• NCI is addressing unequal patterns of access to standard care by conducting a NCI-sponsored Patient Navigation Research Program at multiple sites.
• The purpose of the Patient Navigator Research Program is to develop interventions to reduce the time of delivery of standard cancer services, cancer diagnosis, and treatment after identifying an abnormal finding.
• The patient navigator will assist patients and their families through the cancer care continuum. Examples of navigation services may include: arranging various forms of financial support; scheduling transportation to appointments; and organizing childcare during appointments.

Background

Health policymakers have determined that a major disconnect or gap exists between cancer research discovery and the delivery of those research findings in the form of improved patient care. Unrecognized barriers can prevent many Americans from receiving the best quality care and health disparities arise when the delivery system does not provide access to timely, standard care to everyone in the nation. The National Cancer Institute (NCI) has established the goal of eliminating suffering and death due to cancer by 2015. To meet this goal requires immediate action to address the gap between development and delivery, particularly among underserved populations.

NCI is addressing these unequal patterns of access to standard care by conducting a NCI-sponsored Patient Navigation Research Program (PNRP) at multiple sites. The NCI's Center to Reduce Cancer Health Disparities is already conducting several pilot patient navigator projects (http://crchd.nci.nih.gov/pdf/equal_access_volume1_issue4.pdf ).

The purpose of the PNRP is to develop interventions to reduce the time of delivery of standard cancer services, cancer diagnosis, and treatment after identifying an abnorma
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Contact: NCI Press Officers
ncipressofficers@mail.nih.gov
301-496-6641
NIH/National Cancer Institute
18-Apr-2005