Helpline Offers Free Navigation for People Diagnosed with Cancer
A cancer diagnosis can elicit a range of emotions. Fear. Sadness. Worry. Confusion. Overwhelm. How will you make decisions about your treatment and care? Will you be able to navigate the health care system – choosing a provider, scheduling all the tests and doctor’s appointments, figuring out your insurance coverage, and more? And how will you manage the extra costs that a cancer diagnosis brings?
These are important questions and valid concerns – ones that Cancer Support Community (CSC) can help address. CSC is dedicated to uplifting and strengthening people impacted by cancer by providing support, fostering compassionate communities, and breaking down barriers to care. CSC fulfills its work and mission through award-winning education and programs, impactful research, cancer advocacy, and a Cancer Support Helpline that offers free, personalized navigation to cancer patients and their caregivers.
Sally Werner
“Our vision is that everyone impacted by cancer receives the support they want and need throughout their experience,” said Sally Werner, CEO, Cancer Support Community.
Help for People Living with Cancer is A Call or Chat Away
One of CSC’s signature programs is its Cancer Support Helpline. Available via online chat or toll-free at CSC-867-5309, this free, bi-lingual (English and Spanish) service is staffed by community navigators and resource specialists – many of them licensed clinical social workers – who have extensive experience in helping people affected by cancer. Services include:
- Connecting callers to local or national resources, counseling, support groups, treatment, lodging and transportation services, and other programs.
- Specialized information and navigation relating to finances and treatment costs, clinical trials, pediatric oncology, CAR-T cell therapy, and genetics/genomics.
- Treatment decision-making education.
- Distress screening.
- And more.
“Our Helpline is a two-way support and navigation service,” Werner said. “In addition to identifying the caller’s immediate needs and then offering referrals and resources to address those needs, we always follow up with them later to see if those referrals and resources were helpful. Those follow up interactions allow us to identify any new needs or issues that require additional support beyond the initial interaction.”
Cancer Support Source: Comprehensive Distress Screening
According to Werner, not all callers into the CSC Helpline know exactly what they need – they just know they need support. That’s where CSC’s Cancer Support Source™ enters the picture. This proprietary, research-backed and validated distress screener was developed by CSC psychosocial researchers to rapidly identify and respond to unmet needs, thereby better enabling patients and caregivers to navigate care and treatment, practice self-care, and enhance well-being.
The screening program has two components: Cancer Support Source for adults diagnosed with cancer (CSS-15+) and Cancer Support Caregiver (CSS-CG), the first and only cancer caregiver distress screening, referral, and support program for care partners and family caregivers. Both are approved tools to fulfill American Society of Clinical Oncology Quality Oncology Practice Initiative (AOPI®) standards, Enhancing Oncology Model (EOM) quality measures, and National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN) distress screening guidelines.
“This comprehensive tool helps us uncover previously unidentified and unmet psychosocial needs as well as social determinant of health (SDOH) factors that may impact someone’s access to care,” Werner said. “It’s an adaptive system that automatically surfaces the educational tools, network partner services, and other resources aligned to each caller’s needs.”
Specialized Financial Navigation
In addition to its standard services, the CSC Helpline offers specialized navigation services – including financial navigation – available by appointment. CSC’s financial navigators assist people with financial issues related to cancer, including providing referrals to resources that may help with cancer-related treatment expenses. Services also include tips on how to manage treatment-related costs, how to communicate with health care providers about the cost of care and payment, and understanding insurance benefits.
“Over the last five years, financial stress has become the top reason people call into our Helpline,” Werner said. “While we have traditionally fielded financial-related calls around medical bills and household expenses, over the past year, caller concerns have shifted to Medicaid coverage, health insurance coverage, work requirements, disability, and associated paperwork.”
CSC’s financial navigators offer Helpline callers education detailing the cost of cancer care, what their insurance benefits cover, various options to help finance their care, how to apply for disability, and how to access financial aid services available through local Area Agencies on Aging, cancer support organizations, and medication assistance funds. Other referrals include utility and food assistance, as well as transportation and lodging assistance.
In addition to offering financial navigation through its helpline, CSC provides information online, including:
- Practical tips for gathering financial information
- Ways to manage and budget cancer care costs
- A list of pharmaceutical company patient assistance programs
- Advice on choosing a financial planner or advisor
“Our online information is a good starting point for people thinking about the cost of cancer care,” Werner said. “But we encourage everyone to call our Helpline for the most up-to-date information on constantly changing assistance programs, as well as state-by-state details around Medicaid eligibility and work requirements and the impact of medical debt on credit scores.”
ANCHOR: Financial Resilience During Cancer Care
CSC is currently developing a pilot for a six-week financial didactic course for patients and patient-caregiver pairs who are newly diagnosed or early in cancer care, the critical window for support, when financial strain, emotional stress, and complex care decisions often converge.
Called ANCHOR (Advocacy Navigation Connection Hope Opportunity Resources), the program will combine group-based financial education, psychosocial support, resource connection, and self-advocacy skill-building, along with individualized financial navigation and psychosocial support as needed. Scheduled for launch in early 2027, the pilot will be delivered through five participating CSC and Gilda’s Club locations and findings will inform program refinement and guide future replication and scaling across CSC and Gilda’s Club locations.
“We want to test this model in diverse community settings,” Werner concluded, noting that CSC will evaluate preliminary outcomes including changes in financial toxicity, financial self-efficacy, psychosocial distress, cost-of-care communication, practical needs, and care engagement.
Editor’s Note
Are you or someone you love living with cancer and having a hard time paying for treatments? You may be eligible to receive financial assistance from one of the HealthWell Foundation’s Oncology Funds.
