American Cancer Society Leads Charge to Improve Patient Navigation
In 1989, the American Cancer Society (ACS) convened a series of fact-finding hearings to determine the magnitude of unmet cancer prevention and control needs among the disadvantaged. Their resulting “Report to the Nation” uncovered a number of critical issues related to cancer and the poor, including the extraordinary personal sacrifices poor people and their families must make to obtain and pay for care. The report further found that poor people faced substantial obstacles in obtaining and using health insurance and often did not seek care if they could not pay for it.
The report’s authors issued a challenge to establish patient advocate and referral services to help poor patients navigate the health system and manage personal problems that result from cancer treatment. Thus, the concept of patient navigation was borne. The first patient navigation program started the next year at the Harlem Hospital Center, led by Dr. Harold P. Freeman, ACS’s president at the time. The program served as the model for the Patient Navigator Outreach and Chronic Disease Prevention Act of 2005.
Extending High-Quality Patient Navigation to All Cancer Patients and Care Settings
Today, the ACS continues to drive the establishment and optimization of patient navigation programs as part of their push toward equitable cancer care for all patients, in all settings, from diagnosis through survivorship.
Bonny Morris
“The concept of patient navigation gained traction in cancer care because of the patient volume, disease complexity, and financial toxicity associated with cancer,” said Bonny Morris, PhD, MSPH, RN, Vice President of Navigation for ACS. “Millions of people each year are diagnosed with cancer, meaning you are more likely to be living with cancer or know someone who has lived with cancer than not. Plus, because cancer has many disease subtypes, impacts many different organs, and has multiple treatment avenues, it can be complicated for patients to know what’s best for them and their individual circumstances.”
Dr. Morris applauded the 30+ years of evidence that patient navigation improves patient outcomes but acknowledged that navigation services are not always available to all patients at all times. She pointed to one meaningful step toward improved access: the 2024 Medicare Physician Fee schedule, which includes reimbursement codes for patient navigation services delivered by professionally trained individuals. With reimbursement codes now available to commercial insurers as well, oncology providers now have an entry point to create more sustainable navigation structures and programs.
“Without these reimbursement codes, health care providers had to rely on cyclical grants and operational overhead funding, the latter of which often ends up on the chopping block during budget cuts,” she said. “Still, providers are in varying stages of readiness with implementing these codes and we’re not yet at a place where those reimbursement mechanisms can be leveraged at every cancer center or point of care.”
American Cancer Society Fills Gaps in Patient Navigation
ACS leads and funds efforts to build navigation programs, promotes public policy to support navigation, and studies the role and benefits of navigation in the United States and globally. Some of their programs are targeted at patients and their caregivers, while others are designed to empower oncology practices and the professional patient navigation workforce.
ACS CARES® (Community Access to Resources, Education, and Support) connects people with cancer and their caregivers to personalized support to meet their unique needs when and where they need it most. Support is available in-person through trained volunteers embedded in cancer clinics who serve as an extension of the formal care team. Support is also available through the free ACS CARES app, which provides personalized content, resources, and services based on each patient’s unique situation. Through the app, people living with cancer and caregivers can:
- Connect one-on-one with peer support volunteers who match their lived experiences with cancer, including diagnosis and personal characteristics.
- Access personalized, reliable cancer-related information like treatment options and other resources that update as their situation changes or new evidence becomes available.
- Explore articles, interactive activities, and real stories from cancer survivors tailored to their unique experience.
- Access free services to help with cancer-related needs like transportation and lodging, and more.
- Speak to an American Cancer Society information specialist when they have questions day or night, 365 days a year.
In 2025, the ACS CARES app saw 27,200 downloads, 6,889 user profiles, 21,800 navigation services provided and 934 connections made between volunteers and app users. More than 1,500 new patients were seen through the program’s in-person services, which provided 6,400 navigation services.
The ACS Road to Recovery® program provides free rides to cancer-related medical appointments, helping to break down one of the biggest barriers to treatment adherence: transportation. The program is especially impactful for patients living in rural areas, who may need to drive long distances to receive care, and for patients who lack caregiving support from families or loved ones to ensure they get to scheduled appointments. The Road to Recovery program has provided over 9.7 million rides to nearly 600,000 people with cancer since 2005.
“You could be diagnosed at the world’s best cancer center and have the world’s best oncology team, but if you don’t have transportation to your appointments, you won’t benefit from treatment,” Dr. Morris said. “My research and other studies on the impact of treatment nonadherence and delayed care in reducing survival underscores the importance of access to care programs like ACS Road to Recovery.”
Through ACS’s Hope Lodge® communities, patients and their caregivers have access to a home away from home when cancer treatment is far away. Hope Lodges service 31,000 people with cancer and their families each year using a total of 1,100 rooms. The program has provided over 6 million nights of free lodging since 1970 and has saved guests more than $61 million in lodging costs per year.
“The community aspect of Hope Lodge is so powerful in its ability for patients and caregivers to connect with others going through a similar experience,” Dr. Morris said.
The ACS ACTS (Access to Clinical Trials and Support) program helps patients:
- Learn about clinical trials.
- Explore tailored clinical trial options.
- Connect with an ACS cancer information specialist.
- Access other ACS programs such as lodging, transportation, and more.
In 2025, 1,410 patients completed an ACS ACTS intake, and more than 1,500 trial matches were offered to the 740 individuals referred for trial matching.
“It’s not easy for patients to know all the clinical trial options out there or to address barriers patients may have in terms of accessing those trials,” Dr. Morris said. “This program explores the array of options patients may be eligible for and walks them through the process and the support available to them.”
Support for Patient Navigation Professionals
ACS has several programs to support the navigation workforce and help them build cancer navigation programs as well.
The ACS LION™ (Leadership in Oncology Navigation) program provides patient navigation training, credentialing, and implementation support for the professional patient navigation workforce and oncology practices. As part of ACS LION, ACS recently held a Financial Navigation Learning Collaborative, which convened teams from 18 oncology practices to help them champion financial navigation within their practices. Practice representatives engaged in structured improvement activities at their sites throughout the collaborative and shared challenges, successes, and lessons learned with other participants.
“This open exchange allowed all practice sites engaged in the learning collaborative to make improvements more efficiently and effectively than otherwise possible,” Dr. Morris said. “We will be following up in early 2027 with a five-session Financial Navigation ECHO program that aims to equip multidisciplinary oncology teams with the knowledge and practical strategies to develop and implement effective financial navigation programs within their practices.”
The ACS Patient Navigation Roundtable shares research and best practices that support patient navigation, helps define navigator roles, and provides resources to help cancer navigation programs.
“Care and financial navigation are no longer ‘nice to have’ but ‘need to have’ services that any patient in any care center should be able to access,” Dr. Morris concluded. “I’m excited about the progress we’ve made and ACS’s commitment to helping create and support sustainable navigation programs that are available to as many people as possible.”
Editor’s Note:
Want to learn more about the financial assistance programs available from the American Cancer Society? View HealthWell’s webinar, Supporting Patients Together: Financial Assistance Across the Continuum of Care to hear ACS Chief Patient Officer, Dr. Arif Kamal, and others discuss actionable solutions that help patients navigate financial toxicity with clarity and support.
