A $2.4 million grant to the GW Cancer Institute will help patients across Washington, D.C. get the care they need.
A new grant from the D.C. Cancer Consortium will aid District residents who require cancer support services. The GW Cancer Institute (GWCI) received a $2.4 million grant to establish and coordinate the City-wide Patient Navigation Network (CPNN), which will create a framework for cancer care coordination across the city.
The goal of CPNN is to assist all D.C. residents who require care in accessing appropriate screening services and treatment, regardless of their ability to pay. In addition, CPNN will help patients identify appropriate support services, including post treatment, in particular for those populations currently experiencing disparities in cancer care.
GWCI Executive Director of the GW Cancer Institute Steven Patierno says GWCI is “uniquely qualified” to lead the CPNN since the institute is currently conducting a five-year, national, multi-center study on the effectiveness of patient navigation through its Patient Navigation Research Program, funded by the National Cancer Institute.
“This grant allows us to both deepen and widen citywide efforts in cancer care coordination and will add further strength to our nationally recognized unique model of longitudinal network navigation,” says Dr. Patierno.
“We believe that citywide navigation for people needing help with cancer is a critical step in reducing the number of people in the District who are diagnosed late, as well as mortality from cancer,” says D.C. Cancer Consortium Executive Director Susan Lowell Butler. “This is the nation’s first urban citywide navigation effort and we’re very pleased to support it.”
GWCI will serve as the central coordinating center of the CPNN. The network will include patient navigators stationed at a number of medical centers, hospitals, cancer centers and community sites around the District.
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