St. Francis Medical Center
Monroe, La.

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The St. Francis Medical Center Kitty DeGree Breast Health Center employs a full-time breast health patient navigator to reach out to community members, placing special emphasis on those who are at greater risk for health disparities, such as underserved and uninsured patients struggling with socioeconomic barriers.

Patient navigators help prepare for and resolve the barriers that can prevent timely care, such as speaking another language and lack of insurance and transportation. Navigators assist patients by answering questions, providing emotional support, making sure appointments are kept and helping patients find financial resources and fill out paperwork. The navigator oversees the course of care and works closely with physicians to ensure patient compliance.

Considering the growing number of uninsured and underinsured people in this country, it is no wonder that many people fail to seek the appropriate care for diseases such as cancer. They are unsure of how to navigate the complex health care system and coordinate among multiple physicians and providers. These facts, translated into personal stories, show that cancer can have devastating effects not only on the poor, but also on the self-employed.

The four goals set for the breast health navigation program include:

• Improved patient outcomes in populations with health disparities.
• Culturally competent, multidisciplinary patient navigation program.
• Improved patient compliance rates.
• Provides a smoother continuum of care.

Through the program, patients experience more stable access to quality disease management services. These include, but are not limited to, prescription drug access, financial counseling/support, transportation, child care connections and introduction to clinical trials. The services are presented as a way for providers to improve patient outcomes while decreasing the burden on themselves and their office staff. When the navigator charts the patient's course, all necessary parties are notified of the plan, the associated outcomes and the relevant health information that could be used to alter treatment decisions. The program was founded through a grant from the Northeast Central Louisiana affiliate of Susan G. Komen for the Cure.

Breast health patient navigators collaborate with Susan G. Komen for the Cure's Northeast-Central Louisiana Affiliate and with LSU Health Sciences Center at Monroe to expand the program's outreach. Additionally, SFMC is a tertiary care center and the lead hospital in emergency preparedness for Northeast Louisiana. In these roles, relationships with providers and hospitals throughout the region it serves have been developed, and formal business arrangements made with Jackson Parish Hospital and the Northeast Louisiana Cancer Institute. St. Francis taps into these collaborations to reach out to health disparity populations, including the underinsured and uninsured and other medically underserved populations. Through the providers and hospitals, as well as through collaborations, St. Francis comes in contact with more patients than it would have been able to reach simply by working with patients who are directly admitted to its facilities.