Dr Sashi Naidu: Financial Concerns Are a Constant Challenge in Community Oncology

Sashi Naidu, MD, is director of research at Carolina Blood and Cancer Care Associates, where the No One Left Alone (NOLA) initiative is working to break down cancer health disparities among its patients and prevent care fragmentation.

Transcript

Have you noticed any general trends in care access, positive or negative, that you would like to discuss?

The general issue always comes down to financial outlay for the patient. It’s a constant challenge, especially at the community oncology level, to find adequate resources that cover cancer care for our patients. As we know, the cost of the cancer care is going up every single year, so it is a constant struggle, from NOLA and our standpoint, to find the resources to keep up every single year. There are willing partners—there’s a little silver lining there—but that’s the main challenge.