The Advisory Group on Financial Barriers to Transplant (AGFBT), a multi-disciplinary team facilitated by the National Marrow Donor Program (NMDP)/Be The Match has proposed a care coordination framework to deliver a continuum of care to hematopoietic cell transplantation (HCT) patients.
Six key components of the proposed framework are:
- Patient navigators
- Telemedicine
- Survivorship clinics
- Self-management support and educational interventions
- Standardization
- Psychosocial and financial support
Areas within the components where hematologists/oncologists play a significant role, include:
- Initial diagnosis and therapy decisions
- Education on treatment options (including HCT)
- Timely referral to a transplant center
- Management of relapse and late medical or psychosocial complications after HCT
The proposed care coordination framework is the result of a working group convened by NMDP/Be The Match in 2016. The working group describes the challenges in implementing such a model and outlines a simplified approach at the level of the individual practice or center. A needs assessment conducted at the practice level can identify the issues to be addressed by implementation of one or more key components from the framework.
The working group is developing a toolkit with resources for relevant stakeholders to help address issues around care coordination for HCT patients. The group acknowledged that patient education materials and resources in a variety of languages are available free through NMDP/Be The Match, as well as other patient advocacy organizations, and consider them vital to reinforce verbal education throughout the continuum of care.
The group plans to address policymakers to ensure reimbursement coverage is available to implement the model and provide well-coordinated care to patients undergoing HCT.
Khera N, et al. Blood Advances