Publications & Presentations

This retrospective, longitudinal study of medical and pharmacy claims showed how common it was for patients' treatment with 5 oral cancer drugs to be rejected or delayed due to prior authorization (PA) including step therapy (ST) health plan practices.  Delays were associated with higher healthcare costs, outpacing any savings payers gained from outright rejection of coverage to a small group of patients.

Patients and caregivers face significant challenges accessing CAR T, including travel and lodging costs, care team coordination, caregiving requirements, and perceived risk of side effects. Having to travel long distances to academic cancer centers away from patients’ primary care sites for CAR T compounded the financial and time toxicity associated with receiving treatment for patients, caregivers, and their families. Given the potential community-wide burden of receiving CAR T therapy, treatment should be made available at more care sites, including community-based sites, to reduce the financial, logistic, and psychosocial burden of CAR T. 

The objective of this study is to explore the experiences of patients who have taken both oral and intramuscular endocrine therapy for metastatic breast cancer, by evaluating treatment burdens, benefits, and preference for mode of administration.

This study assessed the nature and extent of symptom burden among patients with metastatic and non-metastatic NSCLC and the factors associated with poor QoL to identify unmet needs and inform psychosocial interventions.

Individuals with non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) are susceptible to distress across multiple life domains. 
This study aims to describe how individuals living with metastatic or non-metastatic NSCLC characterize cancer-related distress, and to identify socio-demographic and clinical factors predicting distress.

Healthcare providers’ ability to successfully engage in patient-centered communication (PCC) and shared decision-making (SDM) is critical for prioritizing patient values and needs given the diversity of cancer treatment options available.  This study aims to examine the impact of PCC and SDM on urologic cancer patients’ perceived knowledge and preparedness in treatment decision-making.

This study analyzes the impact of the Cancer Transitions: Moving Beyond Treatment® for Young Adults program (CTYA) and its efficacy in providing relevant and beneficial psychosocial education and support for YAs transitioning into post-treatment survivorship.

 A research team, including Cancer Support Community, surveyed 181 adults with cancer and cachexia to learn what changes in activity would be meaningful. These findings highlight how researchers can measure patient-centered changes and guide the development of new treatments.  

The Cancer Support Community (CSC), in partnership with Equiva Health, created the MyCancerSupport (MCS) mobile app to expand access to vital cancer support and services to medically underserved communities – when and where they need it. MCS aims to break down barriers to healthcare access by closing the digital gap and equipping patients and caregivers with the essential tools and resources they need to stay well-informed and actively participate in their cancer care.
 

In this study, digital health technologies (DHT) were used to measure what is meaningful to people with cancer-related cachexia when it comes to physical activity. Most participants (96%) felt that the ability to do light physical activity for even a few minutes, compared to no physical activity, was meaningful. This study showed that DHTs can be a useful tool for healthcare providers to monitor changes in physical activities that matter most to patients.