The Importance of Patient Advocacy

At the 2023 Great Debates & Updates in Gastrointestinal Malignancies in Chicago, President of Fight Colorectal Cancer, Anjee Davis, MPPA, shares the importance of patient advocacy and how clinicians can help support and empower their patients with colorectal cancer.

Transcript:

Hi, I'm Anjee Davis. I'm the President of Fight Colorectal Cancer. We're a national organization empowering patients to tell their story and to really activate as it relates to increasing awareness about colorectal cancer, fighting for access to care and clinical trials.

One thing I'd really like to point out is that we know fundamentally that colorectal cancer patients should receive biomarker testing. And when we look at the data, in 2017, the data said that across all stages of disease, 25% of colorectal cancer patients were receiving biomarker testing. By 2022, we're only at 31% across all stages of disease.

Now, recognizing that metastatic colorectal cancer patients, later-stage colorectal cancer patients, should have an increase in biomarker testing: in 2017, 41% of those patients were receiving biomarker testing. By 2022, claims data showed us that only 50% of patients were getting biomarker testing.

What I'd like to say to the clinicians that are watching, oncologists that are watching, is that we have work to do, and there are really 2 things. We need to look at what can we do to improve the treatment of colorectal cancer patients as healthcare providers, but also how can we empower patients to tell their story, to encourage other patients to ask for these very fundamental tests that can help inform them on what is that next step? What is that next treatment option that they should be looking at?

Fight Colorectal Cancer works with patients around the country to do a couple things. We provide them with the basic understanding of what is it when you get diagnosed with colorectal cancer? What are those steps you need to take? That’s patient education.

We also work with patients directly to help them tell their story, to help raise awareness around telling their story, and then taking that story one step further and advocating. Really focusing on policy change. Call your members of Congress. Remind them that we are fighting for access to care. I think now is a time more than ever, that we need to be engaged in healthcare policy.

I really appreciate the opportunity to be here as a part of the Great Debates and Updates in Gastrointestinal Malignancies meeting and hope that we can be of help and service to the folks that we're talking to today.

If you're an oncologist and you're practicing in a rural community, if you're in an urban community, but you need resources, you need things to give to your patients, educational resources, awareness resources, pins or bracelets, all those things matter to a patient. Anything we can do to help provide you those additional resources, we want to be there. You can go to fightcrc.org, you can call us, and we're happy to help support your outreach efforts.

Source:

Davis A. “The Importance of Patient Advocacy.” Presented at: Great Debates and Updates in Gastrointestinal Malignancies; March 30-April 1; Chicago, IL