“Navigation” Study to Help Cancer Patients Cope With Complex Health Care System

Washington – The National Cancer Institute has approved $3.1 million in funding for a program developed by the GW Cancer Institute that will create a DC City-Wide Patient Navigator research program. Navigation is a term used to describe the process of helping patients deal with the complexities of their disease in today's modern healthcare system. This includes things like interpreting lab results and medical details, handling insurance issues, and even finding affordable transportation to and from doctor visits.

Most patients have access to some basic resources, known as “standard-concrete navigation.” The GWCI study will probe whether the addition of “enhanced navigation,” featuring added resources like linguistically competent peer counseling, can help decrease the time from suspicious finding (abnormal screening mammogram) to a diagnosis, and decrease the time from diagnosis to initiation of treatment.

GW Cancer Institute Director Dr. Steven Patierno is principle investigator on the grant. He points to longstanding evidence that cancer strikes minorities and underserved populations at disproportionately high rates, citing breast cancer as a prime example.

“African American women in DC are twice as likely to die of their breast cancers than white women despite the same or higher rates of screening mammography. Similarly, Latinas have a rate of screening mammography only slightly lower than non-Hispanic white women, but they present at later stages of the disease,” said Dr. Patierno. “These disparities suggest barriers and problems navigating the health-care system, both to find timely diagnostic services and to get complete, high-quality care after diagnosis.”

The study will take place at numerous sites in the District, including at the GW Medical Center, Georgetown 's Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center , Howard University Cancer Center , Washington Hospital Center's Cancer Center , and the DC Department of Health.

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