March 4, 2010
March is both Kidney Cancer Awareness Month and National Colorectal Cancer Awareness Month. The CancerCare Co-Payment Assistance Foundation provides up to $10,000 per year in co-payment assistance to eligible individuals facing either diagnosis.
CancerCare has responded to the needs of people facing kidney cancer by hosting Connect Education Workshops that offer information about research and treatment in kidney cancer.
Informative kidney cancer publications are also available in our ever-expanding online reading room.
To learn about treatment updates for colorectal cancer, listen to our most recent Connect Education Workshop, Emerging Treatments for Colorectal Cancer: What’s New?
Other Connect Education Workshops have explored colorectal cancer topics such as improved treatment options through clinical trials and updates on genetic testing for recurrence.
Additionally, this month’s Ask CancerCare column gives you an opportunity to ask any questions you may have about coping with colorectal cancer.
For more resources on these cancers, visit the diagnoses pages on our website.
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Coping with Cancer, Financial Assistance, Learn More About Your Diagnosis, Mind-Body-Spirit, Support CancerCare | Tagged: cancer information, colorectal cancer, copayment assistance, coping, financial resources, kidney cancer | 
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Posted by Kyle Hornyak
February 22, 2010
A new study of anti-cancer drug treatments reveals that out-of-pocket costs for oral drugs are higher than costs for drugs delivered intravenously.
While oral anti-cancer drugs are often more convenient for patients than intravenous drugs, they require many different procedures from doctors such as the management of side effects. However, because these services are not reimbursed by Medicare or other payers, out-of-pocket costs can be as much as 25-50% of the total cost. This can add up to thousands of dollars a year – and sometimes even thousands of dollars per month.
One place patients can turn to for help with chemotherapy and targeted treatment copayments is the CancerCare Co-Payment Assistance Foundation. The foundation provides financial help to patients in treatment for:
- Breast cancer
- Colorectal cancer
- Head and neck cancer
- Glioblastoma
- Non-small cell lung cancer
- Pancreatic cancer
- Renal cell cancer
Qualified individuals may receive up to $10,000 per year to assist with insurance co-payments. Visit the Foundation’s website to learn how to apply.
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Posted by Kyle Hornyak
December 21, 2009
According to new survey results from the Association of Oncology Social Work (AOSW), more than half of cancer patients reported that the costs related to cancer negatively impact their ability to focus on their recovery. Experiencing financial strain can also affect how the patient makes treatment decisions.
Other key findings include:
68% reported financial hardship due to medical bills
46% had to cut back on living expenses to pay for their treatment
40% said that they depleted their savings
30% reported having to deal with bill collectors
66% of patients who faced major financial challenges report suffering from depression/anxiety
These findings reinforce the need for patients and their loved ones to seek guidance and support. While patients reported experiencing significant stress, only 1/3 sought out the help of a social worker. It’s important to know that there are professionals who are experienced in navigating care systems and who can provide supportive counseling.
To speak with an oncology social worker, contact us at 1-800-813-4673.
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Posted by jzahora
December 15, 2009
Pfizer Inc. announced last week that it will extend through 2010 its program providing free prescription medications for people who have lost their jobs.
According to the Associated Press, the Pfizer program makes available more than 70 types of widely prescribed medications it manufactures, such as anti-pain drugs and anti-depressants. The program helps people who have lost jobs since Jan. 1, 2009 and have been taking the drug for three months or more.
Visit the Pfizer website for more information about the program and the medications offered. For more information about specific chemotherapy drugs available through Pfizer’s patient assistance program, call 866-706-2400.
Leave a Comment » | Financial Assistance | Tagged: cancer information, cancer patients, chemotherapy, coping, cost of care, financial resources, low-income | Permalink
Posted by Jeanie M. Barnett
December 14, 2009
The ancient Japanese tradition of senbazuru promises that a person who folds 1000 origami cranes will be granted a wish, such as long life or recovery from illness.
Boston-based Millennium Pharmaceuticals, owned by the Japanese pharmaceutical, The Takeda Company, recently launched a website honoring the senbazuru tradition, where people facing cancer–patients, caregivers, loved ones–can express their hopes and wishes for the New Year. Each message of hope posted at the site is represented by a bird-shaped paper figurine.
Millennium Pharmaceuticals is a funder of CancerCare’s Door to Door program, which provides financial assistance to cover transportation costs for people undergoing treatment for multiple myeloma.
Leave your wish at 1000 Cranes of Hope.com (the site is free but log-in registration is required). For every wish left at the site, Millennium will make a donation to a healthcare-related charity.
1 Comment | Caregiving, Coping with Cancer, Financial Assistance, Mind-Body-Spirit | Tagged: caregivers, coping, cost of care, Door to Door program, financial resources, multiple myeloma, transportation grants | Permalink
Posted by Jeanie M. Barnett
October 14, 2009
CancerCare's Jane Levy (center) with Avon's Carol Kurzig and financial expert Suze Orman, accepting a $1.125 million grant award, made possible by participants in Avon's annual Walk for Breast Cancer.
CancerCare was among 8 non-profit organizations receiving substantial grants this past weekend from the Avon Foundation for Women to support direct services and care for women facing breast cancer.
The grant funds were made possible by the more than 4,000 men and women, including hundreds of breast cancer survivors, who walked in the seventh annual Avon Walk for Breast Cancer on Oct. 10 and 11 in New York City and raised a record $8.7 million to support a variety of health care non-profits that assist women facing breast cancer.
The Walk is a noncompetitive event, in which participants collect pledges for completing either a walking marathon (26.2 miles) or a marathon and a half (39.3 miles), split over 2 days.
The Avon Foundation is a long-time supporter of CancerCare’s free counseling, education and financial assistance programs for underserved women with breast cancer who live in New York City and the tri-state area.
CancerCare received nearly $1.13 million — the second largest grant award presented — during the celebratory Closing Ceremony of the Walk. Suze Orman, financial expert and Special Ambassador for the Avon Foundation for Women, and Carol Kurzig, President of the Avon Foundation, were on hand to present the ceremonial check to CancerCare Director of Patient Services Jane Levy.
To date, Avon’s support has allowed CancerCare to provide its free, professional services to more than 39,000 low-income women facing breast cancer.
Leave a Comment » | Coping with Cancer, Financial Assistance, Support CancerCare, Women's Cancers | Tagged: Avon Foundation, breast cancer, cancer survivors, chemotherapy, cost of care, financial resources, low-income, New York City, Women's Cancers | Permalink
Posted by Jeanie M. Barnett
September 2, 2009
The trend toward the centralization of where cancer surgeries are performed puts an increased travel burden on patients, according to new findings reported in this month’s issue of the Journal of Clinical Oncology.
Numerous studies show that hospitals that perform a higher number of surgeries per year for a specific diagnosis have better patient outcomes. Especially for rare diagnoses, these high-volume hospitals (HVHs) are highly recommended, and patients are heeding this advice. According to this latest study, the number of procedures performed at HVHs increased significantly over the 10-year period examined (1996-2006).
HVHs tend to be located in larger metropolitan areas that are a longer distance from many patients’ homes, the study shows, especially for patients with esophageal and pancreatic cancers, who endured the highest increase in travel distance from home to the facility where their surgeries were performed.
The cost of traveling farther distances for their care may pose a significant barrier to patients with limited resources, the study’s authors suggest. CancerCare helps by providing limited transportation grants to eligible individuals through our Financial Assistance program. CancerCare also assists multiple myeloma patients with treatment-related transportation costs through our Door to Door program.
Leave a Comment » | Financial Assistance | Tagged: cancer patients, cost of care, Door to Door program, financial resources, transportation grants | Permalink
Posted by Monica Cavazos Mendez
August 31, 2009
CancerCare Board Member Deborah Dunsire, M.D., president and CEO of Millennium: The Takeda Oncology Company, was featured in a Q&A in the New York Times’ Sunday Business section about her role as a leader and the lessons she’s learned about leadership. The company has more than 1,100 employees at its headquarters in Cambridge, Mass.
“The job of leadership is developing people, and that involves not doing everything for them, but sometimes allowing them to stub their toe. The work may not come in perfectly, but the learning [is] much more effective, and people [feel] empowered to own the outcome in a different way,” noted Dunsire, who schedules regular “walk around time” to meet informally with employees.
“The work of leadership is ensuring that we have the right people within our organization. You do that through actively knowing the people…what they value and believe, how they believe the company can improve and taking action on it,” she said.
This past May, the Healthcare Businesswomen’s Association named Dr. Dunsire Woman of the Year for her business leadership and goal of improving the lives of cancer patients.
Millennium: The Takeda Oncology Company is a funder of CancerCare’s Door to Door program, which provides financial grants to multiple myeloma patients to help cover transportation costs to and from their treatment (see July 20 blog post to learn more about the program).
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Posted by Jeanie M. Barnett
August 25, 2009
“Is the doctor going to give you what might be a lesser treatment, because he thinks you are worried about money? Is it appropriate to ask the busy doctor about costs?”
Questions like these are running through many patients’ minds, says CancerCare Executive Director Diane Blum, MSW, despite many physicians’ believing that their patients are not worried about cost.
Yet, how they will be able to pay for insurance co-payments, medications and transportation to outpatient services are among the financial worries of many cancer patients, notes Blum, who is quoted in the July/August 2009 issue of Oncology Nursing News, in the article, “Costs of Care Now Part of Care Discussion.”
Blum, who chairs the Patient Resources Subcommittee of the ASCO Cost of Cancer Care Task Force, urged doctors to address the costs of treatment with their patients during a panel discussion at the American Society of Clinical Oncology’s annual conference, held this past June in Orlando, Fla. She also covered a variety of financial assistance programs available for people undergoing cancer treatment including CancerCare’s Co-Payment Assistance Foundation and the Cancer Financial Assistance Coalition, a group of 12 organizations that provide financial support.
“We cannot pay [all of] the bills,” says Blum, “but we can…get you to the resources most appropriate to your need.”
Leave a Comment » | Financial Assistance | Tagged: copayment assistance, cost of care, financial resources | Permalink
Posted by Monica Cavazos Mendez
July 20, 2009
Are you (or someone you know) being treated for multiple myeloma? If so, you may qualify for a new financial assistance program from CancerCare that helps defray the cost of getting to and from your medical care appointments. Called “Door to Door,” the new program offers grants of up to $600 annually to multiple myeloma patients to cover transportation costs such as gasoline, tolls and parking, and taxi, bus and cab fare.
Multiple myeloma is a cancer of the bone marrow. About 20,000 people are diagnosed with this type of cancer each year in the U.S. Advances in the treatment of this cancer have dramatically increased patients’ life expectancy–an estimated 60,000 people in the U.S. are now living with multiple myeloma–and consequently lengthened the duration of treatment, which often is given several times a week over many months.
Particularly for patients on a fixed income, these travel expenses add up and create a financial burden that may prevent them from keeping up with their health care, notes CancerCare Exeuctive Director Diane Blum. “The Door to Door program will provide much-needed relief to this patient population.”
For more information, call 800-813-HOPE (4673) or visit www.cancercare.org.
1 Comment | Financial Assistance | Tagged: bone marrow cancer, Door to Door program, multiple myeloma, transportation grants | Permalink
Posted by Jeanie M. Barnett
