National Navigation Roundtable Paves the Way for Sustainable Patient Navigation
Ever since Dr. Harold Freeman created the first U.S. patient navigation program in 1990, health care providers – most notably in the field of oncology – have recognized the value of such programs in eliminating barriers to quality care, reducing disparities in health outcomes, and fostering ongoing health equity.
Shanthi Sivendran
“Navigating complex health care systems can be daunting, especially for marginalized patient populations living with a complex disease like cancer,” said Shanthi Sivendran, MD, MSCR, MBA, SVP, Cancer Care Support, American Cancer Society (ACS). “It can be confusing for patients to manage multiple providers, health care teams, and institutions. They may fall through the cracks when their care becomes complicated. Patient navigation has emerged as an evidence-based intervention to keep that from happening and make sure patients get equitable, timely access to quality health care and psychosocial care from diagnosis through survivorship.”
Early in the development of the patient navigation field, services were typically delivered in an ad-hoc fashion, often funded by short-term grants that did not allow for the creation of truly sustainable programs and without the professional standards that would allow best practices to be shared within and among health systems. Now, however, patient navigation has become well-structured, defined, and sustainable, thanks in part to the efforts of The American Cancer Society National Navigation Roundtable (ACS NNRT).
The Vision: High-Quality Cancer Care for All
The ACS NNRT was established in 2017. It serves as a catalyst to initiate work on key issues around patient navigation, as well as to disseminate best practices and enhance the field of navigation. A fundamental premise of the Roundtable is that collective action among member organizations will be more successful in advancing the field than if they worked alone. Together, 180+ member organizations – in academia, public health, advocacy, survivor groups, professional societies, industry, training, and state and federal agencies – share information, identify needs and opportunities, and address gaps relating to patient navigation.
“Our multi-sector, collaborative coalition shares the vision of high-quality cancer care for all,” Dr. Sivendran said. “As part of our three-year strategic roadmap, we’re also creating partnerships with other like-minded organizations to improve the quality of and access to sustainable patient navigation.”
Establishing Standards of Professional Practice
The field of oncology patient navigation got a boost in 2022 with the publication of Oncology Navigation Standards of Professional Practice. Created by the ACS NNRT’s Professional Oncology Navigation Task Force (PONT) team, the standards give clinical oncology nurse navigators, social work navigators, and patient navigators clear, evidence-based guidance to support consistent, high-quality care across all settings.
“This blueprint for oncology patient navigation provides the definitions, roles, and practice scope needed to disseminate, replicate, and institutionalize this evidence-based intervention,” Dr. Sivendran said. “It also serves to increase knowledge and awareness of patient navigation and helps to pave the way to reimbursement for patient navigation services.”
ACS NNRT continues to build the evidence base for oncology patient navigation through a series of publications focused on why patient navigation is important, how it improves outcomes, and how to disseminate real-world evidence.
“In medicine, the uptake of any new intervention is driven by the evidence behind it,” Dr. Sivendran said. “Our resources include metrics toolkits that navigation programs can use to collect the evidence that their programs are impactful and sustainable.”
Institutionalizing Patient Navigation
To help oncology providers establish, sustain, and institutionalize patient navigation programs, the ACS NNRT (in conjunction with the ACS Leadership in Oncology Navigation, ACS LION™, and ACS Navigation Capacity-Building Initiative grantees) created Promising Practices Supporting the Sustainability of Patient Navigation: An Implementation Guide. Developed using the Patient Navigation Sustainability Assessment Tool (PNSAT), the guide helps organizations:
- Assess sustainability capacity
- Identify opportunities for program improvement
- Develop actionable sustainability plans
The Guide contains several case studies showing how providers built their patient navigation programs and how those programs helped to:
- Identify barriers to care
- Reduce average time to treatment
- Increase access to and participation in clinical trials
- Achieve institutional funding
- Improve cancer screening rates
- Screen for social determinants of health (SDOH) and refer patients and their caregivers to supportive services
- Improve patient retention and timeliness of care delivery
Learning Collaborative
To help cancer centers and patient navigation teams apply the Implementation Guide, ACS NNRT and ACS LION™ recently established a Learning Collaborative to bring together 22 like-minded health care organizations in a similar state of readiness. The Learning Collaborative, which was launched in September 2026 and is expected to wrap up activities in February 2027, has the following goals:
- Advance Sustainable Patient Navigation Practice
Strengthen participants’ understanding of the core principles and domains that support the long-term sustainability and impact of patient navigation programs.
- Build Organizational Insight and Strategic Readiness
Support participants in developing a comprehensive, systems-level understanding of their navigation program’s current capacity, readiness, and sustainability within their organizational context.
- Strengthen Strategic Planning and Continuous Improvement
Empower participants to translate assessment findings into strategic priorities and action-oriented plans that promote program growth, resilience, and measurable outcomes.
- Enhance Leadership, Communication, and Advocacy Capacity
Build participants’ confidence and ability to effectively communicate the value, needs, and outcomes of patient navigation programs to administrators, leadership, and key decision-makers.
“This collaborative will provide free support to participating cancer centers that are committed to strengthening the long-term sustainability, standardization, and effectiveness of their patient navigation programs,” Dr. Sivendran explained, noting that the collaborative stresses structured learning, peer-to-peer exchange, and practical implementation planning. “Through monthly virtual sessions, they will assess their current programs and develop actionable strategies for long-term success.”
A Roadmap for Sustainable Patient Navigation
Earlier this year, ACS NNRT launched its 2026-2029 strategic roadmap, outlining its key priority areas for the next three years:
- Sustainable Navigation. Advance sustainable navigation to overcome barriers to implementation and health equity.
- Driving Equitable Cancer Care. Elevate navigation as a core driver of equitable, high-quality cancer care. Create evidence-based guidance to elevate navigation and demonstrate increased adoption of tools and standards of practice.
- Strategic Partnerships. Strengthen navigation quality, access, and sustainability by improving membership diversity, expanding strategic partnerships, and knowledge sharing and cross-task collaboration.
- Funding and Policy. Protect, sustain and expand reimbursement, coverage, and funding stability for navigation.
- Ethical Integration of Technology. Provide recommendations on how to integrate digital technologies into navigation services in a way that supports and enhances human interaction, promotes equitable access, digital literacy, and ethical adoption.
“As a practicing oncologist, I am awed by the tremendous innovation in cancer treatments over the last decade,” Dr. Sivendran concluded. “However, all that innovation doesn’t matter if patients can’t get access to it. Patient navigation helps to break down those barriers and is a critical service to helping patients access outcome-enhancing innovation through all phases of their cancer experience. I am honored to be part of the ACS NNRT and its efforts to drive the field forward.”
