Strategic 5-Year Aim (2021-2026)
ACS NNRT’s 5-Year Aim
- Develop system capacity for reimbursement of oncology patient navigation services.
- Support continued professionalism of patient navigation.
- Create public awareness campaign identifying patient navigation as a service in oncology care and the value that patient navigation services can bring to patients and to health care systems, as well as highlighting patient navigation’s impact on health equity.
- Develop a repository of patient navigation best practices to highlight the impact that patient navigation services have on health equity, oncology patient care and health systems care delivery.
Collaboration with American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network (ACS CAN)
The ACS National Navigation Roundtable (ACS NNRT) is an important part of this strategy and acts as the lead convener in addressing the creation of a sustainable model of patient navigation to achieve health equity across the continuum of cancer care.
Through the work of ACS and in collaboration ACS Cancer Action Network, ACS NNRT is now in a pivotal position to contribute to the field of patient navigation and address cancer disparities. In 2024, ACS NNRT:
- Continued to consult with ACS CAN to review Centers for Medicare and Medicaid (CMS)’s Physician Fee Schedule 2024 and collaborate to educate health care systems on utilization of these new codes. ACS NNRT developed and distributed a survey to understand how healthcare organizations with patient navigation programs are using the new CMS codes. The learnings will be utilized by ACS CAN to provide feedback and information to CMS on code usage.
- The American Cancer Society National Navigation Roundtable (ACS NNRT) held its 2024 Annual Meeting from September 18-20, 2024, at the Omni Hotel in Washington, DC. National experts, advocates, and thought leaders convened around the ACS NNRT’s five-year AIM (2021-2026): creating a sustainable oncology patient navigation model to achieve health equity across the cancer continuum. A meeting summary can be found here.
- Accelerating Progress Together: Collaborating for Sustainable Patient Navigation. May 2024 joint meeting with ACS Patient Navigation Capacity Building Initiative grantees and ACS NNRT steering committee and invited guests included a highlight of PN Initiative projects and identification of best practices to aid development of implementation guide.
- Promising Practices Supporting the Sustainability of Patient Navigation, An Implementation Guide will launch in early 2025. The guide is a result of the joint meeting with PN Initiative grantees. Guide release will be accompanied by a webinar. Organizations with patient navigation programs or considering developing or expanding programs are encouraged to use this resource to identify opportunities to support your organization in sustaining and institutionalizing Patient Navigation.
- 2025 and beyond: Additional webinars will be facilitated by ACS NNRT throughout the year, based on innovative research and updated standards of practice. A focus will continue on highlighting the Oncology Navigation Professional Standards of practice and integrating them into NNRT work. We will continue to work with ACS CAN on how we can help support their efforts to expand PN reimbursement in eight states through Medicaid.