TOWN HALL MEETING

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POLICY ISSUES:

• No screening dollars are available for some (e.g., Native Americans) and no access to care, especially for people in remote areas.
• Who treats patients after free screening?
• How can advocacy groups get support/funding?
• Access to care for rural poor.
• Assurance of confidentiality, no medical profiling, etc.
• Insurance for everyone.  Physicians for a National Health Program have a wonderful proposed program.  Can the DCLG please study and endorse this?

The DCLG consists of 16 advocates who work and interface with the cancer community throughout the United States.  We are keenly aware of the issues faced by those yet-to-be-served communities who lack health insurance and access to health care services. However, these issues do not fall under the purview of NCI.  The DCLG’s mission is to advise the NCI Director on NCI’s programs and initiatives.  As DCLG members we cannot “endorse” a national insurance program.  However, in our private capacities many of us support health insurance for all.

The U.S. Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) runs Health Centers that provide health and dental care to people of all ages, whether or not they have health insurance or the money to pay for health care.  To find the Health Center nearest you go to http://ask.hrsa.gov/pc/ and enter your state.

One funding source for screening certain cancers is the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which supports grants through states.  Health care on the reservations of American Indians is very complex and inadequate.  The Department of Health and Human Services’ Intradepartmental Council on Native American Affairs ensures coordination and consultation on health and human services and on social and economic development issues affecting the American Indian, Alaska Native, and Native American populations.  Please note that NCI funds research on the impact of these policy areas. Here are examples of NCI-sponsored research:

SPN Project Description:  The Network for Cancer Control Research Among American Indian and Alaska Native Populations

Investigator:  Judith Kaur, M.D.
Institution:  Mayo Clinic Foundation, Rochester, Minn.

The Network for Cancer Control Research Among American Indian and Alaska Native (AI/AN) Populations was established to increase awareness and understanding about cancer in native communities, provide training in cancer control research for AI/AN researchers, and improve communication between the Native and research communities to encourage research focused on issues that affect Native people.  The network addressed comprehensive tribal cancer control issues through partnerships with tribal cancer centers, the Cancer Information Service, and the American Cancer Society.

SPN Project Description:  American Indian Initiative in Arizona

Investigator: Michael Lobell, M.D.
Institution:  Arizona Cancer Center, Tucson, AZ

The goal of the American Indian Initiative in Arizona was to build a strong oncology program dedicated to addressing the cancer awareness, prevention, and early detection needs of Native Americans through mutual trust, cultural sensitivity, and tribal representation.  The project was operated by the Arizona Cancer Center in partnership with the Phoenix Indian Medical Center (an Indian Health Service hospital).  The geographic area served by the project is home to more than 100,000 members of more than 40 tribes ranging from the small Cocopah tribe in southwestern Arizona to the widely dispersed Paiute tribe in Nevada and Utah.

NCI’s Center to Reduce Cancer Health Disparities addresses research in underserved populations in the Community Networks Program (http://crchd.cancer.gov/cnp/cnp-project-listing.html).

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