Patient Navigation in Cancer: The Business Case to Support Clinical Needs.

Purpose: Patient navigation (PN) is an increasingly recognized element of high-quality, patient-centered cancer care, yet PN in many cancer programs is absent or limited, often because of concerns of extra cost without tangible financial benefits.

Methods: Five real-world examples of PN programs are used to demonstrate that in the pure fee-for-service and the alternative payment model worlds of reimbursement, strong cases can be made to support the benefits of PN.

Results: In three large programs, PN resulted in increased patient retention and increased physician loyalty within the cancer programs, leading to increased revenue.

Healing with horses: fostering recovery from cancer with horses as therapists.

Nearly 10 years ago, I looked at a poster exhibit for a nonprofit organization's camping experience for cancer survivors. One of the images in particular remains with me to this day. It was of an elderly man wearing a cowboy hat and the great grin on his wrinkled face as he stood next to a beautiful sorrel horse.