Massachusetts General Hospital Reports Findings in Cancer (Assessing the effect of virtual navigation interventions to improve health insurance literacy and decrease financial burden in cancer survivors: The HINT II study protocol): Cancer

2025 MAY 22 (NewsRx) -- By a News Reporter-Staff News Editor at Insurance Daily News -- New research on Cancer is the subject of a report. According to news reporting originating from Boston, Massachusetts, by NewsRx correspondents, research stated, “Childhood cancer survivors often face high healthcare costs to monitor and manage new or lasting effects of their treatment. Enhancing survivors’ health insurance literacy (HIL) - the knowledge, ability, and confidence in enrolling in and navigating health plans - is vital for minimizing financial burden.”

Our news editors obtained a quote from the research from Massachusetts General Hospital, “Few studies have assessed the effect of a health insurance navigation program on improving HIL among survivors. We present the protocol for an ongoing randomized controlled trial (RCT) assessing the effectiveness of two health insurance navigation programs (HINT-S and HINT-A) on improving HIL, financial burden, out-of-pocket costs, and healthcare utilization for adult survivors of childhood cancer. This three-arm RCT assesses the effectiveness of two digitally delivered health insurance navigation interventions and enhanced usual care (EUC) on improving HIL at six and 12 months in a national cohort of childhood cancer survivors. While HINT-S is composed of five synchronous, navigator-led sessions, HINT-A is an asynchronous, prerecorded set of five videos. EUC participants receive only a health insurance informational booklet. Financial burden, medical out-of-pocket costs, and healthcare utilization (receipt of preventive care, recommended screenings/vaccinations, and acute care) are assessed at 12 months. Moderators to the interventions’ effectiveness will be investigated, as well as implementation outcomes (feasibility, acceptability, appropriateness, fidelity, and cost-effectiveness). There is a strong need for interventions to improve cancer survivors’ HIL, helping them navigate the complexity of the U.S. healthcare system.”

According to the news editors, the research concluded: “This trial will elucidate the potential effectiveness and implementation of health insurance navigation programs that may benefit many cancer survivors.”

This research has been peer-reviewed.

For more information on this research see: Assessing the effect of virtual navigation interventions to improve health insurance literacy and decrease financial burden in cancer survivors: The HINT II study protocol. Contemporary Clinical Trials, 2025:107952. Contemporary Clinical Trials can be contacted at: Elsevier Science Inc, Ste 800, 230 Park Ave, New York, NY 10169, USA. (Elsevier - www.elsevier.com; Contemporary Clinical Trials - http://www.journals.elsevier.com/contemporary-clinical-trials/)

The news editors report that additional information may be obtained by contacting Elyse R. Park, Dept. of Psychiatry, Massachusetts General Hospital, 55 Fruit Street, Boston, MA 02114, United States. Additional authors for this research include Anne C. Kirchhoff, Calli O. Mitchell, Natalie Durieux, Allyson Foor, Karen Kuhlthau, Giselle K. Perez, Lakisa Ards, Shani Alston, Gregory T. Armstrong, Perla L. Vaca Lopez, Aaron McDonald, Vikki G. Nolan, Douglas E. Levy and Wendy M. Leisenri.

Publisher contact information for the journal Contemporary Clinical Trials is: Elsevier Science Inc, Ste 800, 230 Park Ave, New York, NY 10169, USA.

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