SWOG S1912CD

This clinical trial examines a financial navigation program in helping patients and their spouses understand and better manage the financial aspects of cancer care. Cancer patients and their spouses may be at high risk for financial problems because of the cost of cancer treatment. A financial navigator is a person or team who work with patients and their families to help them reduce stress or hardship related to the cost of cancer treatment. Financial navigators help patients understand their out-of-pocket expenses and what their health insurance plans may cover. Financial navigation may also help patients set up payment plans, find cost-saving methods for treatments, and improve access to healthcare services that the patient needs. Providing financial navigation to patients may help reduce financial worries and improve quality of life.

SWOG S2108CD

This clinical trial studies how well an educationally enhanced genomic tumor board (EGTB) intervention works to increase the number of patients with solid tumors that have come back (recurrent), do not respond to treatment (refractory), have spread to other parts of the body (metastatic), or are newly diagnosed and spread to other parts of the body (advanced) who receive genome-informed treatment. Genome-informed treatment refers to treatment based on the information found in genomic tumor test results. This study compares the usual approach to reviewing genomic tumor test results with the approach of having a genomic tumor board (GTB) review the test results. A GTB is team of doctors and scientists that have experience in understanding genomic changes and review genomic tumor test results. The tumor board helps to suggest whether there are other cancer treatment options based on patient genetic test results. The usual approach is to review genomic tumor test results without the GTB being involved. This study may help researchers learn if using a GTB enhances the treatment decision making process within 6 months of joining the study. This study may also help researchers learn if using the GTB increases doctors' understanding of genomic tumor test results and increases doctors' comfort level with genomic tumor tests.

URCC-18110CD

This trial studies the delivery of the ENABLE palliative care program by two different methods called a Virtual Learning Collaborative or Technical Assistance for patients with advanced cancer and their caregivers. Palliative care is specialized medical care for people with a serious illness that occurs at the same time as other medical treatment. The purpose of palliative care is to provide relief from symptoms and stress of serious illness, to help patients and their families clarify goals of care, and to focus on social support and spiritual well-being. The focus of the ENABLE palliative care program is on living well, managing stress, patient communication of their personal values and hopes for care, social support, and symptom management. This study may help doctors find the best ways to include palliative care services into their practices and the impact of palliative care on cancer patients and their caregivers' quality of life.

Wake Forest WF-1805CD

People who have been treated for head and neck cancer (HNC survivors) can experience serious consequences from their cancer and its treatment, ongoing risks of new cancers, and other unrelated illnesses. These concerns pose challenges to the provision of comprehensive care to HNC survivors. We created HN-STAR to facilitate and tailor the ongoing care of HNC survivors. Survivors use HN-STAR on a computer or tablet to answer questions about symptoms and health concerns before a routine visit with a cancer care provider. During the clinic visit, the provider uses HN-STAR to see evidence-based recommendations for managing each concern reported by the survivor. The provider and survivor discuss recommendations and select appropriate actions (e.g., testing, referrals, prescriptions, self-management). HN-STAR produces a survivorship care plan that includes all reported concerns and the actions selected in clinic. The survivorship care plan is given to the survivor and the primary care provider. Three months, six months, and nine months later, the survivor uses HN-STAR from home (or clinic) to report their concerns again, and a new survivorship care plan is created each time. Our trial randomizes ≥30 oncology practices from the National Community Oncology Research Program to use HN-STAR or provide usual care to 350 recent survivors of head and neck cancer. We hypothesize that survivors in the HN-STAR arm will have greater improvement in patient-centered outcomes (including cancer-related well-being, symptoms, and patient activation) over one year compared to survivors in the usual care arm, measured by surveys at baseline and one year later. We also hypothesize that survivors in the HN-STAR arm will be more likely to receive care that is aligned with evidence-based recommendations during the year of the study than survivors in the usual care arm. Our final aim investigates the implementation of HN-STAR in clinical practice, using interviews and surveys of survivors, providers, and other clinic staff to understand the feasibility, acceptability, appropriateness, and other aspects of providing survivorship care to head and neck cancer survivors.