Overcoming barriers to health care
Programs help people get treated for blood cancers and disorders
AgeN/A
Number of ParticipantsN/A
Research GoalIncrease Access
There are many reasons that people don’t get lifesaving treatments such as blood or marrow transplant (BMT) and other cell therapies. Some problems include:
- Not knowing about BMT and cell therapies
- Not enough doctors who do BMT and cell therapies
- Lack of a matching donor
- Complex processes to collect, store and ship cells
- Lack of health insurance coverage
- Lack of money to travel and take time off work for care
- Possible side effects after treatment
- Problems getting follow-up care
NMDP is working on solutions:
- Working with health care providers and patient advocates to share new treatment guidelines
- Asking researchers to include more people from ethnically diverse communities in clinical trials
- Including patients, caregivers while planning research
- Identifying donors through the free HLA Today program
- Researching mismatched donors
- Providing free counseling, financial help, and help finding clinical trials, at the Patient Support Center
- Coordinating health care between patients, caregivers, providers, and health insurers
- Lobbying for better insurance coverage
- Using palliative care to improve patients’ quality of life and to reduce caregivers’ distress