Lay navigators, who support patients with cancer from diagnosis through survivorship to end of life, can help reduce emergency department visits, ICU admissions and costs, according to a study published in JAMA Oncology.
The researchers examined lay navigation within the University of Alabama at Birmingham Health System Cancer Community Network from Jan. 1, 2012, through Dec. 31, 2015. They used propensity score-matched regression analysis to compare quarterly changes in the mean total Medicare costs and resource use between navigated patients and non-navigated patients.
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In total, researchers identified 12,428 cancer patients — 6,214 patients were in the navigated group and 6,214 patients were in the matched non-navigated comparison group.
Here are four insights:
1. Mean total costs for the navigated group decreased by $781.29 per quarter, compared to the non-navigated patients.
2. Over a full year, the navigated group saved an estimated $19 million.
3. Emergency department visits reduced by 6 percent; hospitalizations by 7.9 percent; and ICU admissions by 10.6 percent per quarter in navigated patients compared with matched comparison patients.
4. The study authors noted that "lay navigation programs should be expanded as health systems transition to value-based healthcare."