Financial Toxicity and Financial Navigation

Cancer care in the U.S. is very expensive, with new treatments and longer survival adding to the costs. Many patients face high out-of-pocket expenses due to their insurance, making it hard to afford treatment. This can lead to worse health and even preventable deaths.

Families often have to make tough financial sacrifices after a cancer diagnosis, and those with fewer resources struggle the most. The financial burden of cancer, known as financial toxicity, includes both the actual costs and the stress they cause. Current efforts to reduce this burden haven’t shown clear results, and there’s an urgent need to fix this problem to improve cancer care and survivors’ lives.

Financial Navigation Training

Project

The MOQC Financial Navigation Training is an eleven-month project (November 1, 2024 – September 30, 2025) funded by the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services (MDHHS) to improve financial navigation services for oncology patients across Michigan. Building on insights from prior focus groups, MOQC will develop a virtual training program in collaboration with financial navigation expert Dan Sherman, providing live instruction, a training manual, and remote support for approximately 36 oncology practice team members. The program includes pre- and post-training assessments to measure its impact on workflows and patient access to financial services. A meeting will be held for trainees after to share experiences and outcomes, and MOQC will create shareable educational resources in multiple languages for broader dissemination. The project will conclude with a final report summarizing activities, survey results, and developed resources.

Non-Medical Drivers of Health

Project

Cancer diagnoses and death rates in Michigan are often higher than the national average, so Patient Advocate Foundation’s Patient Insight Institute (PII), the Michigan Oncology Quality Consortium (MOQC), and Gilead Sciences, Inc., are teaming up to improve screenings and outcomes. The project will create a patient-focused way to screen for social factors affecting health, test it at select sites, and connect patients with resources to support their care and improve results.