On June 13, the House approved, by voice vote, the Patient Navigator Outreach and Chronic Disease Prevention Act of 2005 (H.R. 1812). Sponsored by Rep. Robert Menendez (D-NJ), the measure would authorize $25 million through FY2010 for grants to provide individuals of health disparity populations with prevention, early detection, treatment, and appropriate follow-up care services for cancer and other chronic diseases. Under the bill, grants could be used for community outreach to populations that have been identified as underserved or having health disparities, patient referrals for treatment, assistance for individuals at risk of developing cancer or other chronic diseases, and assistance for patients to overcome barriers within the health care system. The grant program would sunset on September 30, 2010.
Rep. Paul Gillmor (R-OH) supported the bill, saying, “Patient navigator programs provide outreach to communities to encourage more individuals to seek preventative care and coordinate heath care services for individuals who are at risk for or have a chronic disease.” He added, “This measure will be particularly helpful to sprawling districts such as my own in Ohio, in which patients must drive or be driven by friends or family long distances for basic medical care and services.”
Rep. Sherrod Brown (D-OH) spoke about the nonfinancial barriers that many individuals face: “The complexity and fragmentation of our health care system is perhaps the most daunting barrier of all. It exacerbates racial and ethnic disparities and reduces the efficiency of health care across the board.” He praised the “patient navigators,” saying that they are culturally and linguistically competent and are “trained to assist and empower patients, serve as their advocates, in negotiating our complicated and too often impersonal health care system.”
An identical bill (S. 898), sponsored by Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-TX), was approved by the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee on April 27 (see The Source, 4/29/05).
