Dr Todd Yezefski Discusses Using Financial Navigator Programs

Financial navigator programs in hospitals take commitment and money to start up, but they more than pay for themselves, said Todd Yezefski, MD, senior fellow in the Clinical Research Division at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center and Division of Medical Oncology at the University of Washington.

Transcript

What is the oncology financial navigator program detailed in your paper for the AJMC/PAN Foundations Challenge Supplement?

We joined up with a company called the NaVectis group which provides training and assistance to hospitals and cancer centers who are looking to start financial navigation services. They provide help on finding the appropriate staff, or hiring people to do the financial navigator role. They provide training as to different programs that are available, ongoing support, and also tracking software so that they can quantify how much they are able to help patients.

What does it take to get something like the financial navigator program up and running? What barriers might there be for hospitals?

A lot of it is the hospitals need to commit to having a dedicated financial navigation program. They need to hire an additional staff member or a few people who are going to serve this role. The costs are really gonna cover themselves by the increased revenue that the hospitals have gotten. In our study, we found that hospitals are able to increase their revenue by over a million dollars a year. And the more patients you help, the more revenue they are able to bring in. So, it more than pays for itself but it really just takes that commitment to get it started.