UAB Comprehensive Cancer Center Magazine Fall 2015 | Page 11

clinical update

By BEENA
THANNICK AL

18

U A B

UAB Study Shows
Dramatic Cost Savings for
Cancer Patients

C O M P R E H E N S I V E

C A N C E R

C E N T E R

UAB recently presented an observational study
at this year’s annual American Society of Clinical
Oncology meeting in Chicago that indicates a more
rapid decline in Medicare costs and patient resource
utilization during implementation of a lay navigation
program.
In 2012, the UAB Comprehensive Cancer Center
created the Patient Care Connect Program, a lay
patient navigation initiative with the support of a
$15-million Health Care Innovation Challenge Grant
Award from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid
Innovation with the aim of achieving better health and
better health care at a lower cost.
Based on the premise that coordinated cancer
management leads to decreased overall cost, the
Patient Care Connect Program is designe BF