Tag Archive for: uninsured

Are Endometrial Cancer Outcomes Worse for Underrepresented Patients?

Are Endometrial Cancer Outcomes Worse for Underrepresented Patients? from Patient Empowerment Network on Vimeo

How do endometrial cancer outcomes compare for patients from marginalized groups? Expert Dr. Ebony Hoskins shares risk factors for optimal endometrial cancer care and advice for patients to receive assistance for their care.

Dr. Ebony Hoskins is a board-certified gynecologic oncologist at MedStar Washington Hospital Center and assistant professor of Clinical Obstetrics and Gynecology at Georgetown University Medical Center.

[ACT]IVATION TIP

“…asking the question about their risk. If someone is not insured, asking the hospital or a cancer center that’s there about any resources that are available to say, patients who are uninsured or underinsured, there are programs that are there. And even for medications, some of the manufacturers have programs that pay for medications.”

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Transcript:

Mikki:

Dr. Hoskins, is endometrial cancer worse for a marginalized population? And are there any specific risk factors that put some at risk more than others?

Dr. Ebony Hoskins:

So I think marginalized populations, I think we could say minority populations, we can say Black women, we can say Hispanic women, and we can say people who, I’m trying to define, if you were the marginalized, patients who don’t have access to care. Yes. I definitely think that you could or they could have a worse outcome, whether it’s for lack of access for someone who may not be insured or for patients who may be in this country without proper documentation getting the medical care that they may need. Yeah, I think it can certainly be and I’ve seen those. I think risk factors, and we’ve talked about race as being a risk factor, and again, access to care is certainly a risk factor.

I think those are probably the bigger risk, if you will. So my activation tip for patients would be asking the question about their risk. If someone is not insured, asking the hospital or a cancer center that’s there about any resources that are available to say, patients who are uninsured or underinsured, there are programs that are there. And even for medications, some of the manufacturers have programs that pay for medications. So I think in asking the ask the question, I have no problem asking a question, right. So we, I think asking for yourself is not going to hurt.

Mikki:

Okay. Well, Dr. Hoskins, we know the endometrial cancer outcomes among populations that are disadvantaged. How are you and your colleagues changing this?

Dr. Ebony Hoskins:

So disadvantaged populations could be patients who live in rural areas, patients with gender identity changes. So I think in terms of that, I think our Society of Gynecologic Oncology recognize it. I think number one, we have to recognize who the people are, and who these populations are. And then at least from our most recent annual meeting have noted more, talks that are about it. So it’s just more education that we are, seeing in, again, even more, some more data, particularly with patients that live in rural communities where they have lack of access to say a gynecologic oncologist, where they have to travel. And so I think one, recognizing it, and in terms of what’s being done I think there’s more to come. My activation tip for patients would be if you are in a disadvantaged population, perhaps inquiring with let’s say local groups that you are aligned to or even let’s say someone who may live in a rural community to figure out where they can get the best care that’s local to home. So, and I mean, these are things that we recognize that may be coming about soon. 


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How Can We Address Noted Disparities in Multiple Myeloma?

How Can We Address Noted Disparities in Multiple Myeloma? from Patient Empowerment Network on Vimeo

What can patients and healthcare providers do to improve health disparities for myeloma patients? Expert Dr. Joseph Mikhael explains the communities that need more outreach about myeloma and those he views as vital to educating about myeloma risk and symptoms for earlier diagnosis and better health outcomes.

See More From the Myeloma TelemEDucation Empowerment Resource Center

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Transcript:

Dr. Joseph Mikhael:

Well, I have to tell you, this is a very personal issue for me, disparities in multiple myeloma, and I have the privilege of being involved in many programs and platforms to try and address this. And like with any major consideration, there isn’t a simple solution, it is going to take a multi-fold solution that has many parts. The first part that I think is critical is engagement of our communities, whether it is the Black community, the Hispanic community, even though in more rural areas or patients uninsured, we really require a kind of an engagement that’s real to build trust, to build confidence, this is stemmed from years of mistrust and understandably, so that we have to re-build.

I try to do that personally in my practice, but advocate for it on a larger sphere. Secondly, I want to empower my patients to learn and for communities to learn, whether someone has myeloma might have my load or as already myeloma, and I don’t have it might have it, or do you have it? Those patients need to be educated about myeloma so that they can understand who’s at risk and facilitate a more early and a more accurate diagnosis. Thirdly, I believe very much so, in educating the primary care world, the majority of patients with myeloma are still diagnosed by a primary care physician. They may ultimately see a hematologist-oncologist to confirm that, but the suspicion comes at the primary care level. And so I’m involved in multiple programs to educate primary care docs to think about myeloma, as I like to say, “If you don’t take a temperature, a patient won’t have a fever, you need to look for it.” And so if there are certain signs or symptoms that may include bone pain, significant fatigue, signs that we see like protein in the urine or a low hemoglobin or kidney dysfunction, these things need to push us to look for multiple myeloma. And then lastly, to look at disparity as an important area of work across the whole board that we need to better access to have better access for clinical trials and for the therapies that we know will benefit our patients, and that’s on us as physicians. But it’s also on the community at large, our regulators, our insurance companies.

Those are the kinds of things that I’m working on so that we can make a long-standing difference and really start to reduce this currently awful disparity in multiple myeloma.