City of Hope leads Cancer Patients Bill of Rights resolution, aimed at expanding access to unleash the full benefits of cancer care innovation

On February 19, 2021, The Cancer Letter reported, A profound, difficult, seemingly impossible human journey begins with the words, “you have cancer.”

Over the past decade, advances in cancer diagnosis, genomics, targeted and immunological therapeutics, and the advent of precision medicine solutions for patients with advanced stage, relapsed, and persistent cancers have markedly improved patient survival outcomes.

Data gathered by the American Cancer Society document the profound impact of these revolutionary advances in care: over the past two years, cancer survival rates have improved by the greatest percentages ever documented.1 These advances have changed the meaning of a cancer diagnosis, bringing hope and life to patients and families facing a cancer journey.

Yet, the benefits of these advances in care are not consistently realized by all patients and families. Care and outcome disparities persist, in part driven by inequitable access by many patients and families to the individualized care, aligned clinical expertise, and individualized treatment innovations that could produce better survival outcomes.

The burden of cancer risk and diagnosis is experienced by those who are historically underserved, live in poverty, or those who live in rural areas; disparities in care access further compound the adverse outcomes experiences by these vulnerable patient populations.2,3,4

Improvement in healthcare coverage and decreases in the proportion of the population that is uninsured reflect the impact of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. However, all is not well. Far too many patients and families directly experience the sad reality that expanded coverage does not necessarily translate into more equitable patient access to life-saving care services.

Some of the blunt force methods used contain costs result in the creation of additional barriers to care access that prevent cancer patients and their families from benefitting from the full breadth of cancer care advances.

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