Financial Navigation Program to Improve Understanding and Management of Financial Aspects of Cancer Care for Patients and Their Spouses

Inclusion Criteria:

• Patients must have a diagnosis of a metastatic solid tumor or a hematologic malignancyand must receive anti-cancer treatment (i.e. chemotherapy, hormonal therapy, targetedtherapy, biologic therapy, immune therapy, bone marrow transplant). Registration mustoccur within 180 days after diagnosis of metastatic or stage IV solid tumor ortreatment-requiring hematologic malignancy. Patients with indolent hematologicdiseases undergoing observation alone are not eligible; patients with previouslydiagnosed hematologic cancers progressed to the point of requiring systemic therapyare eligible, so long as the progression occurred within the previous 180 days. Biopsyconfirmation of metastatic disease is not required
• Patients with recurrent solid tumors will be allowed as long as 1) this is the firstpresentation of metastatic disease and 2) the diagnosis of the metastasis is at least 180 days (6 months) after the diagnosis date of the previous earlier stage cancer
• Patients with a history of secondary malignancy are allowed as long as they were notdiagnosed within the previous 24 months, are not on active therapy, and aredisease-free. Patients with adequately treated basal cell or squamous cell skincancer, and in situ cervical cancer at any point prior to enrollment are eligible
• Patients who have started anti-cancer treatment for the current diagnosis must havestarted within 90 days prior to registration
• Patients who are planning to start anti-cancer treatment for the current diagnosismust start within (=<) 30 days after registration
• Patients are allowed to be co-enrolled on other clinical trials (includingnon-treatment studies and studies that may or may not include investigational drugs)
• Patients must be at least 18 years of age
• Patients must have a Zubrod performance status of 0-2
• Patients must complete the baseline patient reported outcomes (PRO) questionnairesprior to registration and must be able to complete questionnaires in English orSpanish
• Patients must provide their full name, primary address in the United States (U.S.),birth date and social security number at registration for the purposes of accessingcredit report data. (This may be obtained directly from the patient, studyquestionnaires, or the medical record)
• Patients must provide email and/or telephone number for the purposes of beingcontacted by financial navigators Spouse/partner caregiver participation is optional.
• Spouse/partner caregiver must be living in the same household as the eligible patientand be either legally married, in a common law marriage, or be an intimatepartner/significant other of the participant*
• Spouse/partner caregivers must be at least 18 years of age
• Spouse/partner caregivers must provide their full name, primary address in the U.S.,birth date and social security number at registration for the purposes of accessingcredit report data
• Spouse/partner caregivers must provide email and/or telephone number for the purposesof being contacted by the financial navigators
• Spouse/partner caregivers must be able to complete questionnaires in English orSpanish and must complete the baseline questionnaires prior to patient registration *The study team acknowledges that other types of caregivers may also face financialhardship following a patient's cancer diagnosis and may similarly benefit fromfinancial education and navigation. The decision to focus solely on spouse or partnercaregivers was scientific, to understand how caregivers who share household financesexperience financial hardship.
• Participants (patients and caregivers, when participating) must sign and give writteninformed consent in accordance with institutional and federal guidelines. Use oflegally-authorized representative is not permissible for this study. Documentation ofinformed consent via remote consent is permissible
• As a part of the Oncology Patient Enrollment Network (OPEN) registration process thetreating institution's identity is provided in order to ensure that the current (within 365 days) date of institutional review board approval for this study has beenentered in the system

Exclusion Criteria:

• Patients may not be enrolled in hospice care at the time of registration
• Non-spouse/partner caregivers such as friends, adult children, parents, or otherrelatives living in the same household as the patient are not eligible