Evaluation of Patient Navigation in a Community Radiation Oncology Center Involved in Disparities Studies: A Time-to-Completion-of-Treatment Study.

PURPOSE: To evaluate whether data on length of time from patient referral to treatment completion, collected routinely as part of a quality improvement program, can be used to measure the effectiveness of a patient navigator program. PATIENTS AND METHODS: During a calendar year, 72 disparities patients, 38 of whom received navigator services, and a group of 157 nondisparate, un-navigated patients received external beam radiation therapy at a community center. Data from referral time through completion of treatment, which had been collected routinely under an existing continuous quality improvement program, were compared retrospectively, as well as missed treatments and the percentage of planned treatments completed, for three patient groups.