On the first day of the Support Is Care Summit in Washington, D.C., Brian Lindberg, Senior Policy Advisor with the Coalition to Transform Advanced Care (C-TAC), joined fellow panelists for a featured plenary session titled “Current State of Supportive Cancer Care.” The session was moderated by Mark Prentice, Director of External Relations at the Sheri and Les Biller Family Foundation, and was designed to ground summit participants in both the progress made and the challenges that remain, setting the stage for two days of advocacy and coalition-building on behalf of the Together for Supportive Cancer Care Coalition.
The Panel and Its Purpose
The session brought together patient advocates, policy experts, and coalition representatives to examine three core dimensions of the supportive cancer care landscape: the federal policy environment shaping access to care; where system-level approaches were succeeding in delivering coordinated, whole-person support to people with cancer and their caregivers; and where persistent gaps and structural barriers continued to drive inequities, particularly for underserved and historically marginalized communities.
Panelists included:
Julie Nickson, Vice President, Federal Advocacy and Coalitions, American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network (ACS CAN), who addressed patient and caregiver navigation, coverage barriers, and the case for sustainable reimbursement of navigator programs;
Brian Lindberg, Senior Policy Advisor, Coalition to Transform Advanced Care (C-TAC), who presented the Coalition’s five-part federal policy agenda from a systems and payment policy perspective; and
Sally Werner, RN, BSN, MSHA, Chief Executive Officer, Cancer Support Community, who spoke to the emotional, practical, and financial toll on caregivers and communities, with particular attention to underserved populations experiencing financial toxicity from cancer.
Framing the Problem
Lindberg opened by establishing the scale of the access gap. While nearly 40 percent of Americans will be diagnosed with cancer in their lifetime, he noted, only 15 percent currently have access to supportive cancer care: the comprehensive services that address the physical, emotional, social, and financial needs that accompany a diagnosis. Most people with cancer experience symptoms that significantly affect daily life, yet the research and delivery infrastructure needed to address those experiences remained underdeveloped.
He described patients and caregivers navigating fragmented systems without adequate guidance, a supportive cancer care workforce stretched across too few palliative care specialists, psycho-oncologists, social workers, and navigators, and coverage for services that could reduce emergency department visits and hospitalizations that remained inconsistent or delayed by prior authorization requirements. The caregiver burden was equally stark: $375 billion in unpaid labor annually, $3 trillion in cumulative lost wages over caregivers’ lifetimes, and nearly half of cancer patients carrying medical debt, with higher rates among Black patients and other communities of color.
Yet Lindberg was equally emphatic about the economic case for action. Research shows that every dollar invested in supportive cancer care can deliver $2.50 to $3.50 in lower downstream costs, driven by reductions in avoidable hospitalizations and emergency department visits. Patients receiving supportive oncology services experienced between 27 and 70 percent fewer inpatient admissions and between 16 and 54 percent fewer emergency department visits.
The Coalition’s Federal Policy Agenda
The heart of Lindberg’s remarks centered on the Together for Supportive Cancer Care Coalition’s five-part federal policy agenda, which he described as evidence-based, cost-effective, and ready for Congressional action.
On research and innovation, Lindberg called for increased federal funding for supportive and palliative care research, including patient-reported outcomes and cost-effectiveness studies, advanced through the NIH ASCENT Consortium. He argued that if the system does not measure what patients actually experience, it can appear to be performing well while patients are still struggling.
On care coordination and navigation, he described the need for cancer-specific patient-centered medical home models, permanent Medicare telehealth flexibilities, improved EHR interoperability, and expanded navigator training programs. With 55 percent of patients reporting lack of information from providers as a barrier and 53 percent citing perceived lack of coverage, people were left navigating the system without a guide.
On the supportive cancer care workforce, Lindberg pointed to shortages across palliative care physicians, psycho-oncologists, oncology social workers, and navigators as the single largest bottleneck limiting access. He called for passage of the Palliative Care and Hospice Education and Training Act (PCHETA), expanded Public Service Loan Forgiveness for supportive care providers, and increased funding for palliative care and psycho-oncology fellowships.
On value-based payment and comprehensive coverage, he urged bundled payment demonstrations integrating supportive services, a new continuous care planning code under the Physician Fee Schedule to support longitudinal coordination, and reduced prior authorization burdens that delay care when people need it most.
On family, caregiver, and financial protections, Lindberg called for reimbursement pathways for caregiver education and respite, drawing on lessons from CMS’s GUIDE Model, alongside caregiver tax credits, expanded behavioral health access, workplace flexibility protections, and out-of-pocket cost limits, with particular attention to communities where financial toxicity from cancer was most acute.
Download the Agenda
Looking Ahead
Lindberg closed by reminding summit participants that facts and constituent stories continue to carry weight in Washington, and that Members of Congress and their staff are personally connected to cancer across party lines. The Together for Supportive Cancer Care Coalition, he said, brings together leading cancer centers, advocacy organizations, employers, biopharmaceutical companies, and payers in a cross-sector effort to build consensus around these policy innovations.
“We’re not asking Congress to choose between clinical excellence and supportive care,” Lindberg said. “We’re asking them to recognize that whole-person cancer care, care that treats the disease and supports the person, is the standard we should deliver to every American.”
Support is care. And with federal leadership, the Coalition’s work at the summit and beyond aimed to make that standard accessible to everyone who needs it, from diagnosis through survivorship and end of life.
Other Highlights from the Day
C-TAC was proud to have a strong presence at this year’s Together for Supportive Cancer Care Coalition Convening, where leaders from across healthcare, policy, research, patient advocacy, and industry came together to explore how Supportive Cancer Care can become the national standard of care.
Representing C-TAC, Torrie Fields participated in a panel discussion moderated by Susan Hedlund of the Biller Family Foundation, focused on expanding publicly available data that demonstrates the impact of Supportive Cancer Care for patients, caregivers, providers, and payers. The conversation highlighted opportunities to strengthen the evidence base and advance the business case for broader adoption across the healthcare system.
Throughout the convening, attendees heard from healthcare, employer, and industry leaders about the growing momentum behind supportive care. Speakers shared how Supportive Cancer Care is improving patient outcomes, enhancing quality of life, and reducing costs, while employers and purchasers discussed the importance of making supportive care more accessible to the workforce.
The remainder of the day centered on the coalition’s three key drivers of change—policy, research, and employer engagement—underscoring the collaborative work needed to accelerate adoption nationwide.
The convening concluded with an inspiring call to action from Dr. Matthew Gonzales, who stated
“What makes me hopeful about this work? You all. The ingredients for success are in this room because we all represent different perspectives and different organizations – different ways of being. This hasn’t been tried in this way before—but to be here with patients, families, caregivers, policymakers […] and policy influencers, we can make a huge difference together.”
