Office of Science & Technology Policy Fact Sheet: Biden Cancer Moonshot Announces Commitments From Leading Health Insurers & Oncology Providers to Make Navigation Services Accessible to More Than 150 Million Americans

WASHINGTON, March 9 (TNSres) -- The White House Office of Science and Technology Policy issued the following fact sheet on March 8, 2024:

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Marking major progress on President Biden's Unity Agenda, the Biden Cancer Moonshot secured new commitments from health plans and oncology providers to deliver important support services to more Americans living with complex health conditions, including cancer

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Today, the Biden Cancer Moonshot announced new commitments from seven leading health insurance companies to expand access to navigation services to help patients and their families navigate health care treatments for cancer and other serious illnesses. These health insurers--Aetna, a CVS Health company; Blue Cross Blue Shield of Minnesota; Elevance Health; Health Alliance Plan; Humana; Priority Health; and Select Health--serve more than 150 million patients, nearly half of all Americans across the country. In addition, the Biden Cancer Moonshot announced 40 comprehensive cancer centers and community oncology practices nationwide who commit to using the new navigation codes to provide patient navigation services to people facing cancer.

Through the Biden Cancer Moonshot, President Biden and First Lady Jill Biden have prioritized supportive services for people who are touched by cancer, including by championing the importance of patient navigation services. Navigators guide families through every step of their cancer journey. Navigators have been shown to improve health outcomes and the patient experience by reducing times between diagnosis and treatment, and increasing treatment completion. These services also lower healthcare costs by reducing ER visits and hospitalizations and reduce health disparities, including by facilitating access to services to address unmet social determinants of health, such as food and housing insecurity and transportation needs. Until President Biden and Dr. Biden prioritized increasing these services, Medicare and other health plans largely did not pay for navigation, leaving this service out of reach for too many people, especially in low-resourced settings.

With leadership from First Lady Jill Biden, the Biden-Harris Administration announced that Medicare would begin paying for certain navigation services starting January 1, 2024. The Biden Cancer Moonshot also led efforts to update existing medical billing codes to enable commercial health insurers to pay for navigation services. The Cancer Moonshot's efforts to update the billing codes and drive use among providers and insurers means, for the first time ever, millions of Americans will be able to access much-needed support, like clinical care coordination, health education, patient self-advocacy training, health system navigation, and connection to community-based social services to address food and housing insecurity, transportation needs, or other issues that could interfere with treatment.

Specifically, these leading national and regional health insurers, comprehensive cancer centers and community oncology practices have committed to:

* Provide and cover navigation services using appropriate coding, including CPT codes 99424-99427, and, as applicable, HCPCS codes G0023-G0024, as well as tracking utilization and reimbursement metrics for these codes.

* Capture utilization of navigation codes across patient demographics, including but not limited to geography, race and ethnicity, and sex and gender, where available.

* Track associated health outcomes of patients who are benefitting from navigation services, such as number of emergency room and urgent care visits, available patient-reported outcomes, and other care quality and experience measures.

* Support the provision of evidence-based navigation services to patients and caregivers in accordance with the Oncology Navigation Standards of Professional Practice, which describe the knowledge and practices navigators should provide in order to deliver high-quality, competent, and ethical services to people affected by cancer.

Today, 40 comprehensive cancer centers and community oncology practices have committed to these actions, representing a large share of the U.S. health sector and cancer care across the country, including:

* Abramson Cancer Center

* AIS Cancer Center | Adventist Health Bakersfield

* Atrium Health Wake Forest Baptist Comprehensive Cancer Center

* Baptist Health Cancer Care

* City of Hope

* Dana-Farber Cancer Institute

* Duke Cancer Institute

* Herbert Irving Comprehensive Cancer Center

* Huntsman Cancer Institute at the University of Utah

* Marian Regional Medical Center | Mission Hope Cancer Center

* Masonic Cancer Center, University of Minnesota

* Mayo Clinic Comprehensive Cancer Center, Jacksonville, FL

* Mayo Clinic Comprehensive Cancer Center, Phoenix and Scottsdale, AZ

* Mayo Clinic Comprehensive Cancer Center, Rochester, MN and the Upper Midwest

* Mercy Health

* Mercy Health System's Oncology Practices

* Mercy Health/Lourdes Hospital Cancer Center

* Moores Cancer Center at UC San Diego

* Northwell Health

* Nuvance Health

* Ochsner LSU Health Shreveport

* Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center

* Penn State Cancer Institute

* Sidney Kimmel Cancer Center

* St Elizabeth Healthcare

* St. Luke's Cancer Institute

* Sutter Health Memorial Medical Center

* The Cancer Center at Mercy Hospital Joplin

* The Fred and Pamela Buffett Cancer Center

* UChicago Medicine Comprehensive Cancer Center

* University Hospitals Seidman Cancer Center

* University of Colorado Cancer Center

* University of Maryland Marlene and Stewart Greenebaum Comprehensive Cancer Center

* University of New Mexico Comprehensive Cancer Center

* UPMC Hillman Cancer Center

* USC Norris Comprehensive Cancer Center

* UVA Comprehensive Cancer Center

* Vail Health Shaw Cancer Center

* Wilmot Cancer Institute at University of Rochester

* Winthrop P. Rockefeller Cancer Institute

Today, the Biden Cancer Moonshot is also announcing that national health plan associations and provider associations pledge to educate their membership about how to use these codes to cover for navigation services, and to assess usage of these codes across their membership. Together, these associations represent more than 950 payer members and more than 2,750 cancer centers and independent oncology practices, which serve hundreds of millions of Americans.

* Alliance of Community Health Plans (ACHP)

* Association of American Cancer Institutes (AACI)

* Association of Cancer Care Centers (ACCC)

* AHIP

* Blue Cross Blue Shield Association (BCBSA)

* Community Oncology Alliance (COA)

* Self-Insurance Institute of America (SIIA)

Achieving the bold goals of the reignited Biden Cancer Moonshot requires an all-hands-on-deck approach, and President Biden calls on the private sector, foundations, academic institutions, and healthcare providers to contribute new actions and collaborations that will help end cancer as we know it.

Please share your ideas, actions and input at https://www.whitehouse.gov/cancermoonshot.

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Original text here: https://www.whitehouse.gov/ostp/news-updates/2024/03/08/fact-sheet-biden-cancer-moonshot-announces-commitments-from-leading-health-insurers-and-oncology-providers-to-make-navigation-services-accessible-to-more-than-150-million-americans/