You found out you have cancer. A Jefferson program can help you through it

Being diagnosed with cancer can be scary. Overwhelming. Complicating. A new program at Jefferson aims to help, and data suggests the support they offer can improve patient outcomes and lower costs.

Jefferson’s Sidney Kimmel Comprehensive Cancer Center this month announced that it has created the program to provide extra support for people who have just been diagnosed with cancer.

As part of the Same Day/Next Day Cancer Care program, patients can make a telehealth appointment with an oncology nurse practitioner or physician’s assistant within 48 hours of their cancer diagnosis. Based on the patient’s needs, the experts can offer guidance, help coordinate upcoming tests and specialist appointments, and connect patients with other resources and support services.

“If you’re struggling at the beginning, it’s helpful to have that support,” said Brooke Worster, associate professor of medicine and enterprise director of supportive oncology at Jefferson Health.

Depending on what patients need, they may be referred to Jefferson’s supportive oncology care, which extends past the first 48 hours after diagnosis, and includes access to a wide range of clinicians, such as pharmacists, psychiatrists, nutritionists, social workers, and physicians who specialize in pain management.

The care team addresses patients’ complex needs, which could range from the medical — such as help for symptoms such as fatigue and nausea — to the practical, tackling problems related to transportation, housing, child care, and employment.

The program can link people to patient navigators, liaisons between patients and the health-care system. It also offers support for patients’ mental health and financial needs, connecting them to grants and other forms of patient assistance to cover costs.

Patients with cancer do not have to be treated by Jefferson doctors to access either the Same Day/Next Day program or supportive oncology care, said Worster.

“Anybody has the ability to have this service if they reach out,” she said.

Ideally, she said she’d like to expand the number of available providers so that Jefferson can one day offer these extra services across the region.

There is some evidence that this type of extra support can make a difference for patients’ outcomes.

In a paper published online in April by the journal Cancer, Worster worked with researchers at Independence Blue Cross to measure the costs and outcomes of nearly 140 people being treated for cancer who received supportive oncology care from Jefferson’s Sidney Kimmel Comprehensive Cancer Center, and compared them to nearly 300 patients who did not.

The researchers found that patients who received supportive oncology care had better treatment outcomes — and lower medical costs.

After 30 to 90 days, patients who received Jefferson’s supportive oncology care had up to 70% fewer admissions to the hospital, and up to 54% fewer ER visits than other patients. After 90 days, the supportive care group had up to 25% lower costs.

Because supportive oncology care helps patients and their caregivers, and reduces the cost to the system, “it feels like this extra level of support is a win all around,” said Worster.

Worster estimated that 25% of patients being treated at the Sidney Kimmel Comprehensive Cancer Center are receiving supportive oncology care regularly. Given that Jefferson’s cancer center treats nearly 9,000 patients per year, that’s thousands of people who are already benefiting, she said.

She said she hopes her supportive oncology care research collaboration with Independence Blue Cross can evolve to explore new payment models to cover it.

At the moment, Worster said, Jefferson shoulders the costs of any supportive oncology services that can’t be billed to insurers — which means insurers see all the savings, and Jefferson doesn’t get those benefits.

Jefferson is considering other payment models, such as asking insurers to pay a flat fee per member who is enrolled in supportive oncology care per month, or giving Jefferson a percentage of the cost savings generated by the program, Worster said.