POQC’s Workgroups are continuing to address issues that will improve care for cancer survivors and caregivers.

The Financial Navigation Workgroup continues to work on the development of a financial navigation program – a full proposal is awaiting initial feedback from BCBSM. They are also exploring a potential partnership with the Patient Advocate Foundation (PAF), a nonprofit organization that provides case management services and financial aid to people with chronic, life-threatening, and debilitating illnesses in hopes of leveraging their already established processes and resources. Once this partnership is in place, potential gaps for Michigan cancer populations can be identified and solutions to address them can be created. The Financial Navigation Workgroup also hopes to add more helpful financial resources to the MOQC website and expand their knowledge base on the Affordable Care Act in hopes of developing new resources to help uninsured Michiganders.

The Recruitment and Retention Workgroup helped to expand POQC by eleven new members in 2022. They are still seeking better representation of more patient and caregiver populations within the state of Michigan to ensure that all voices are heard and recognized within quality improvement efforts for cancer care. They also developed and implemented a mentorship program for new POQC members in 2022. In 2023, they plan to release a new and improved demographics survey for current POQC membership to inform additional recruitment efforts and develop a POQC member retention plan centered around inclusion and connection.

The Patient and Caregiver Resources (PCR) Workgroup developed and hosted a session at the June 2022 Biannual Meeting centered around a caregiver panel comprised of two caregivers, a grief consultant, and a medical oncologist. They also implemented and shared a Patient and Caregiver Resources Search Engine, available on MOQC’s website: cancerhelp.moqc.org. During the 2023 calendar year, they plan to continue expanding that search engine and seeking out additional ways to provide resources to patients and caregivers.

For a testimonial on the Patient and Caregiver Resources search engine, follow this link: https://youtu.be/IaQ_9YrQSUY