Bridging the financial assistance gap: A pilot study of a patient-facing app to identify drug financial assistance programs.

Abstract

e18296 Background: Many cancer patients face high treatment-related costs and are often unaware of available financial resources. We designed “Bridge” as a stand-alone, smartphone app to reduce out-of-pocket treatment costs by connecting patients to tailored financial assistance programs. The goal of this pilot study was to evaluate the usability and preliminary effectiveness of Bridge. Methods: Eligible cancer patients were receiving anti-cancer treatment, owned a smartphone, and reported out-of-pocket treatment-related costs. Patients interacted with Bridge, inputted personal and financial data, and reviewed personalized financial resource results. Usability was assessed via the validated System Usability Scale (SUS). To be usable, patients would have to score at least 68 on the SUS. Effectiveness was assessed by two measures: “Bridge improved my knowledge about financial aspects of cancer care and what can be done about it” (1 = strongly disagree to 5 = strongly agree) and “Using this tool was helpful with my financial concerns” (1 = strongly disagree to 5 = strongly agree). Results: We enrolled 30 patients. 63% were female, 23% were non-white, 66% had greater than high school education, 97% were insured (48% Medicare), and 23% were employed. Median annual household income was $60,796. All patients completed a full interaction with the app, with median time to results of 116 seconds. 72% of patients matched to at least one currently open program, with patients matching to a median of 4 financial assistance programs. 90% of patients reported an SUS score of usable (i.e., > 68 out of 100). The median SUS score was 85. 83% of patients agreed or strongly agreed that “Bridge improved my knowledge about financial aspects of cancer care and what can be done about it.” 53% of patients agreed or strongly agreed that “Using this website was helpful with my financial concerns.” Conclusions: We found that patients rated Bridge as usable and acceptable. We also found that Bridge helped match most patients to relevant assistance programs and improved knowledge about financial aspects of cancer care. The next phase of this NCI-funded study will test the effectiveness of Bridge in a large, randomized, controlled trial.