Pryce Applauds Funding To Help Families
in Underserved Communities Navigate
the Health Care System
“Patient Navigator” program receives $5 million in Senate Appropriations bil l
WASHINGTON, DC – Congresswoman Deborah Pryce released the following statement upon inclusion of $5 million in the Senate Labor, Health and Human Services Appropriations bill to fund patient navigator programs. Pryce was a lead sponsor of H.R. 1812, the Patient Navigator, Outreach, and Chronic Disease Prevention Act, which authorized $5 million for the program for Fiscal Year 2007 and was signed into law a year ago.
"Today, we have taken another important step forward in recognizing the challenges facing our nation's health care system by funding patient navigator programs. This money will help launch initiatives in underserved communities throughout the country to assist individuals in navigating their way through the health care system.”
“Patient navigator programs offer individuals the tools and resources they need to make the good decisions about their health and the health of their children. They help break through the red tape that often prevents them from getting the information and the treatment they so desperately need.”
“These programs have proven to be extremely successful and are making a real difference in the lives of people in our state who are suffering. It is my hope that this funding will serve as a springboard for additional investments in navigator programs in the future. By furthering this collaboration between the private and the public sectors, we will maximize our resources and close in on that day when cancer and other chronic diseases no longer threaten the lives of our loved ones.”
“I greatly appreciate the leadership of the House Subcommittee Chairman Ralph Regula and Senate Subcommittee Chairman Arlen Specter in seeing the value of this program and finding the resources to get it up and running. I also commend the tireless efforts of grassroots organizations we worked closely with in Ohio and across the country to make the reauthorization bill a reality.”
The Patient Navigator, Outreach, and Chronic Disease Prevention Act makes funds available to community health centers, rural and frontier-serving medical facilities, and other eligible entities to increase and promote chronic disease prevention screening, outreach and public health education. In addition, this initiative would provide patient navigators to help patients overcome barriers and complexities around the health care system.
Patient navigators assist people with obtaining coverage through the Medicaid system or other sources, obtain cancer screenings or counseling about disease prevention, or make referrals for treatment or clinical trial options should an abnormality be detected.
H.R. 1812 garnered the support of the American Cancer Society, National Association of Community Health Centers, National Patient Advocate Foundation, American Diabetes Association, The Intercultural Cancer Council, National Hispanic Medical Association, and others.
