
Red tape is getting in the way of cancer patients receiving the treatment they crucially require, a new study has found. Patients were 18% more likely to experience cancer care delays or be unable to stick to a treatment plan if they had to fill out a lot of paperwork, compared to patients who faced less red tape, the researchers found. Results also showed that the more paperwork a patient had to deal with, the more likely they were to experience delays in treatment. “These are patients who are under incredible amounts of stress, who are often physically and emotionally nowhere near their best, and now having to try to jump through these hoops, the challenge becomes way more difficult and, quite frankly, unacceptable,” said Dr. Joe Betancourt, president of the Commonwealth Fund, a health policy think tank. “We need to really advocate for decreasing these administrative and bureaucratic burdens on patients who are suffering from chronic diseases and need care,” added Betancourt, who was not involved in the study. These delays were worse for younger patients who were less experienced at navigating the health care system, researchers reported Aug. 30 in the journal Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers & Prevention. Black Americans also reported more paperwork-related delays than white Americans, the study found. The U.S. health care system requires a complex series of communications among patients,… read on > read on >