Abstract A033: Use of a novel healthtech platform to record patient-reported needs in real time
Authors: Cornish Katherine , Murray Mary Stober , Karmo Maimah , Regnante Jeanne , Leach Virginia 
Published: December 2023

Background: Financial toxicity refers to the challenges that a patient faces due to the high costs of medical care. BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, and People of Color), rural, and other vulnerable populations often bear a disproportionate burden when diagnosed with a chronic disease. As a result, these populations often experience financial toxicity at higher rates. The estimated annual costs of health disparities in the U.S. are $1.24 trillion. Financial toxicity and logistical barriers that affect daily life, such as transportation, family care, rent, and home maintenance, can negatively affect a patient’s life. Many clinical trial sponsors and patient advocacy groups focus on providing support to patients around these barriers, but services are often generalized and provided in a ‘one-size-fits-all’ format, which may not be beneficial on an individual level for each patient. In 2023, together with health IT provider The WiTT Group, Tigerlily launched the innovative web-based Resources and AssIstance for Support and Empowerment (RAISE) platform, which brings together the best of wedding registry, crowdsourcing, and digital payment concepts and tools to match patients with the non-clinical services they need in real time as they go through treatment. With RAISE, Tigerlily empowers Black women with breast cancer to specify needs in their registry in real time, delineated by the time and urgency of each need. Our research question is, “What is the relationship between patient informed financial and non- financial stressors and patient's geographical location, age, cancer sub type and staging?"  Methods: Tigerlily captured the “voice of the patient” using user-generated profiles and patient-identified needs on the RAISE platform. Patient-submitted data during the months of May through July 2023 was analyzed. Results: Patients (n=60) documented current financial and non-financial stressors and challenges, as well as other impacted areas of their daily life. Preliminary results indicate that financial costs associated with groceries, insurance copays, and out-of-pocket medication costs were the most requested needs. Additionally, patients reported rent/mortgage, groceries, and childcare as the most financially necessary needs. Conclusions: RAISE allows breast cancer patients from BIPOC, rural, and other vulnerable populations to specify their needs on an individual basis. The most urgent and frequent patient-reported needs were. This approach will be used to inform community-based organizations, advocacy partners, and healthcare providers about patient-reported needs in their communities in order to guide the development of support programs and services. Future research will compare the impact of meeting patient-reported needs on outcomes such as quality of life and the impact of patient-identified stressors.

Citation Format: Katherine Cornish, Mary Stober Murray, Maimah Karmo, Jeanne Regnante, Virginia Leach. Use of a novel healthtech platform to record patient-reported needs in real time [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 16th AACR Conference on the Science of Cancer Health Disparities in Racial/Ethnic Minorities and the Medically Underserved; 2023 Sep 29-Oct 2;Orlando, FL. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev 2023;32(12 Suppl):Abstract nr A033.