How Purchasers Are Advancing Supportive Cancer Care 

A new PBGH Common Purchasing Agreement gives employers and public purchasers practical tools to strengthen benefits, contracting and accountability. 

A cancer diagnosis affects far more than a person’s treatment plan. People with cancer and their caregivers may also face physical symptoms, emotional distress, financial strain, workplace disruption and a healthcare system that can be difficult to navigate. Employers and public purchasers have an important role to play in making that experience better. 

More than two million people are diagnosed with cancer in the United States each year, and 45% are between the ages of 20 and 64. Yet the supportive services people need alongside cancer treatment are not always consistently available, coordinated or measured. 

Cancer is already a significant purchaser priority with 73% of employer and public purchaser members identifying cancer as a strategic priority in a recent PBGH survey. Fewer than one in four, however, reported having a comprehensive supportive cancer care strategy. Over 20 employers and public purchasers came together in a collaborative workgroup to help close that gap.

Today, PBGH is releasing the Supportive Cancer Care Common Purchasing Agreement, a practical resource designed to help employers and public purchasers strengthen benefits, procurement, contracting, measurement and partner accountability. 

Supporting the Whole Person 

Supportive cancer care is an evidence-based approach that recognizes the full range of needs people may experience throughout cancer treatment and survivorship. 

The framework encompasses six areas: 

• Physical 
• Psychological and emotional 
• Spiritual 
• Educational 
• Environmental and economic 
• Community 

These areas include services and supports ranging from symptom management, nutrition and behavioral health to financial counseling, workplace accommodations, caregiver support and connections to community resources. For benefits leaders, the question is not simply whether these services appear somewhere in the benefits portfolio. It is whether people can find and use them, whether services are coordinated, and whether health plans, providers and vendors are accountable for delivering them. 

A Framework Purchasers Can Use 

The Common Purchasing Agreement is organized around five principles: 

1. High-quality, evidence-based and patient-centered supportive cancer care 
2. Equitable supportive cancer care 
3. Care team coordination and navigation 
4. Value-based payment 
5. Transparency and accountability  

The agreement turns those principles into recommended purchaser actions, suggested vendor RFP questions, model contracting clauses and measurement expectations. It can help benefits leaders examine important questions: 

• What supportive services are available today? 
• Where do those services sit across health plans, providers and vendors? 
• Where are employees and caregivers likely to encounter gaps or barriers? 
• Are navigation responsibilities and handoffs clear? 
• What expectations should be added to RFPs and contracts? 
• What information should healthcare partners report? 
• How will the organization evaluate access, utilization and performance? 

A Path from Assessment to Accountability 

Organizations will not all begin at the same place. The agreement identifies three stages of implementation. 

Foundational stage: inventory existing benefits and partner capabilities, identify gaps and improve communication about available services.

Integrated stage: strengthen coordination, reduce administrative and financial barriers, and incorporate supportive cancer care expectations into RFPs and contracts. 

Advanced stage: pursue value-based payment arrangements, require more comprehensive reporting and establish accountability for access, experience, equity and cost.  

This approach allows each organization to begin with its current benefits strategy while working toward more comprehensive and accountable support. 

Setting Clearer Expectations 

Employers and public purchasers shape the market through the benefits they offer, the partners they select and the expectations they establish. The PBGH Supportive Cancer Care Common Purchasing Agreement gives them a shared framework for making supportive cancer care a more consistent part of high-quality cancer care. 

PBGH is grateful to the employer and public purchaser members and supportive cancer care experts who contributed their knowledge to this work. We also thank The Sheri and Les Biller Family Foundation and the Healing Works Foundation for their partnership and educational grant making the creation of this resource possible. 

Download the PBGH Supportive Cancer Care Common Purchasing Agreement

View the PBGH Supportive Cancer Care Executive Summary

Join PBGH on November 10 for a practical discussion about putting the framework into action. Register here.