Updates from the Sandra and Malcolm Berman Cancer Insitute

Expanding Our Financial Support Program 

The team at the Sandra & Malcolm Berman Cancer Institute do all they can to ease the path for their patients. Among the oncology support services provided is the support of a Financial Navigator, an expert at finding the help patients need in affording treatment. 

Oncology Financial Navigator Monica Williams has a strong track record for getting support from pharmaceutical companies and others to reduce the cost of care. Her work not only helps patients get the treatment they need, but it also saves money for the Berman Cancer Institute and GBMC. The real value, however, is in the program’s effectiveness in improving patients’ treatment adherence and in supporting continuity of care. 

The Financial Support Program has recently expanded. A new partnership offers patients access to: 

Co-pay assistance 

Free or reduced-cost medications 

Support from charitable foundations

With support from the partnership, Ms. Williams identifies the programs that will help and then works with patients and caregivers to complete applications for assistance. The service is free to patients who are actively receiving cancer therapies or any infusion treatment (such as iron or antibody infusions) and are experiencing financial hardship. Like all resources provided by Oncology Support Services (OSS), the Financial Support Program is funded by donations. 

To learn more about the Financial Support Program and all of the Berman Cancer Institute’s oncology support services, please visit gbmc.org/services/oncology-support. 

To make a contribution to this and other OSS programs, please visit gbmc.org/cancer and select “Donate to the Sandra & Malcolm Berman Cancer Institute.” 

Berman Cancer Institute Earns Re-Accreditation 

Every three years, GBMC and the Sandra & Malcolm Berman Cancer Institute team are scrutinized by the Commission on Cancer (CoC) to ensure our programs meet standards for programming and documentation. After this year’s audit, the Berman Cancer Institute received prompt reaccreditation. 

The CoC was established to ensure that oncology programs are providing the supportive services and resources to deliver a full continuum of care. Participation is voluntary – in fact, the Berman Cancer Institute pays to participate. The program is a valuable way to remain ahead of the curve in providing systems that help cancer patients receive high quality, coordinated care. 

As the CoC describes it, “accreditation includes data reporting to and feedback from the CoC's National Cancer Database (NCDB) to assess hospital performance using nationally recognized quality of cancer care measures. These data systems allow hospitals to compare their quality of care, identify variations, and implement improvements to demonstrate the high quality of care they provide and their commitment to continuous quality improvement.”