Patient Navigation and Cancer Care Delivery

Although the US health care system offers the very best care to many, the poor and uninsured typically face challenges in accessing timely health care, even when faced with a life-threatening disease such as cancer. Spurred by unmet patient needs and the growing complexity of health care delivery systems, patient navigation seeks to diminish social, economic, cultural, and medical system barriers to timely quality care. This case study discusses the emergence of patient navigation as a strategy for improving cancer outcomes, especially among vulnerable populations. It explores challenges and opportunities related to advancing successful implementation of patient navigation across the cancer care continuum. It seeks to harness and apply the power and energy of patient navigators with the goal of guiding individuals across the health care continuum—from the communities where they live all the way through screening, diagnosis, and treatment at clinical care sites.