Baseline financial distress and cost-related social risks among participants in the Cancer Financial Experience (CAFÉ) trial.

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172 Background: Cancer Financial Experience (CAFÉ) is a multi-site, three-arm randomized controlled trial to test the impact of a novel financial navigation intervention on financial distress among cancer patients. We compared the baseline prevalence of financial distress among CAFÉ trial participants, using two instruments (InCharge and COST), and assessed cost-related social risks. Methods: Three hundred seventy one (n=371) participants were consented and randomized between August 2021-March 2023. Eligible participants (n=2033) included adults (18+ years of age), diagnosed with invasive cancer within 120 prior to a recent visit to a CAFÉ study clinic/site, members of Kaiser Permanente Northwest or Kaiser Permanente Washington, and spoke English or Spanish. Following consent, participants were randomized to one of three trial arms: enhanced usual care; brief intervention; enhanced intervention. The two primary trial outcomes were: financial distress, measured using the InCharge Financial Distress/Financial Well-Being scale, and cancer-specific health-related quality of life, measured by the FACT-G7 scale. Additionally, we collected the COST measure and cost-related social risks. All participant-reported outcomes, demographic, and socioeconomic data were collected via telephone survey at baseline and 12 months by trained interviewers. Survey data was stored in REDCap. Descriptive statistics were used to assess participant demographic, socioeconomic, and outcome data at baseline. Results: Among randomized participants (n=371), mean age was 61 years (standard deviation=14 years), 63% were female, 11% Hispanic, 9% Asian, 8% Black , 61% married or living with partner, 31% were employed full-time, 37% retired, 44% had annual income of $20000-$74999, 45% had Medicare, and 38% had breast cancer. At baseline, InCharge scores showed 31% (n=113) of participants had high, 19% had moderate, and 50% had low financial distress. Based on COST scores, 2.2% (n=16) of participants had high, 63% had moderate, and 39% had low financial distress. Forty percent (n=148) of participants reported any cost-related social risk, including heat and electricity (15%) and housing (15%). Conclusions: Baseline findings from the CAFÉ trial indicate that nearly one-third of patients with cancer may have high financial distress around the time of diagnosis, though this may vary by screening tool. The ideal screening tool for use at diagnosis is worthy of further study. Assessing and assisting patients with social risks, including financial distress, is essential to advancing cancer health equity. Clinical trial information: NCT05018000 .