The work of patient navigators will be reimbursed under Medicare for the first time ever in 2024, which means their role in healthcare and as partners for pharma is likely to expand.
As a leader in oncology patient navigation, I know full well the value, insight, and comfort we bring to patients and their families. We hear the gratitude in their voices, and navigators see the connection we make in their eyes. And although they and our partner doctors and nurses know our worth, our significance is about to be officially validated and quantified.
The coming year will be a big one for patient navigators. For the first time, the work that my fellow patient navigators perform is expected to be reimbursed by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), as part of the 2024 Medicare Physician Fee Schedule Final Rule.
This is nothing short of a landmark decision. Reimbursement further recognizes and elevates the role of patient navigators in assisting patients throughout their cancer journey and validates how patient navigation tangibly improves patient outcomes. The statistics prove these positive outcomes, and the stories we live every day bring these numbers to life.
The rule will continue to address healthcare disparities and improve health equity by providing improved access to care.
However, this decision is much more than a recognition; it creates opportunities for this important growing sector of the healthcare spectrum to flourish—all to the benefit of our patients and healthcare colleagues. The rule will continue to address healthcare disparities and improve health equity by providing improved access to care. We also hope the coming year will bring opportunities to expand the navigator workforce so more patients can receive these services that have proven to be a major part of their journey to recovery and well-being.
New Rule’s Impact on 2024
The CMS ruling is expected to positively impact patient navigation through four specific elements: caregiver training, telehealth, behavioral and mental health services, and dental care for head and neck patients. Although these factors will enhance the role of the navigator, they will also decrease the amount of time patients and caregivers spend traveling to a physician’s office, thus improving access to care.
We also expect this development to strengthen the bond we have with the pharma industry beyond the relationship we currently enjoy with our partner doctors and nurses. At the Academy of Oncology Nurse & Patient Navigators (AONN+), we look forward to working with pharma to co-create unbranded patient education materials— further enlightening our patients
on disease information, treatment, and management and maximizing the relationship they have with the navigator on their journeys.
Every day we go to work, we are given the amazing opportunity to provide strength, comfort, and hope to our patients and their families. There is nothing in this world we would rather do. We look at the year ahead and can’t help but think of the amazing opportunities to build our profession and to further improve the lives and outcomes for those on their patient journeys.
