Expanding Cancer Navigation to Advance Equity in Public Health Systems

Delays in cancer diagnosis and treatment remain a critical driver of poor outcomes and widening disparities, particularly for Medicaid beneficiaries and other vulnerable populations. To address these barriers, the National Cancer Institute recommends comprehensive patient navigation as a standard of care.

In May 2022, the Los Angeles County Department of Health Services (LA Health Services) launched its Cancer Navigation Program. Serving more than 500,000 patients annually, LA Health Services adapted nationally validated navigation models to its safety-net setting. As the speakers discussed in their presentation at the NCQA Health Innovation Summit in San Diego, CA, since its inception, the program has supported more than 3000 patients with breast, colorectal, gynecologic, and urologic cancers across four acute medical centers and more than two dozen outpatient facilities.

The program leverages evidence-based guidelines, multidisciplinary collaboration, and equity-focused approaches to reduce barriers that delay treatment. Culturally and linguistically aligned navigators help patients overcome challenges related to housing, food insecurity, or depression, while electronic health record tools and dashboards track progress and performance. Early results demonstrate measurable improvements: time from diagnosis to first visit decreased by 20 days, treatment initiation times were cut by more than half, and social work referrals rose by 175%.

Looking ahead, LA Health Services plans to expand navigation to all new cancer diagnoses, establishing a scalable framework for complex care management that may extend beyond oncology. By embedding navigation into the system’s operations, the program offers a blueprint for advancing equity in cancer care and beyond.

Speakers included Bahar Basseri, MPH, staff analyst at the Los Angeles County Department of Health Services, and Evan Raff, MD, director of specialty care at LA Health Services. Together, they bring expertise in quality improvement, system redesign, and the delivery of value-based, patient-centered specialty care.

Reference:
NCQA Health Innovation Summit. Cancer Navigation: Improving Outcomes, Advancing Equity, and Reducing Disparities in Cancer Care. NCQA; October 13, 2025. Accessed September 29, 2025. https://events.ncqa.org/summit2025/session/3107186/cancer-navigation-improving-outcomes-advancing-equity-and-reducing-disparities-in-cancer-care