Formal discussant of these abstracts on financial toxicity, Reginald Tucker-Seeley, ScD, of USC Leonard Davis School of Gerontology, said the studies by Drs. Shankaran and Yabroff highlight how far the field has come in understanding the pathway from cancer diagnosis to financial hardship for patients and their families. Moreover, said Dr. Tucker-Seeley, these studies will help researchers attempt to answer key questions pertaining to the measurement, risk factors, and predictors of financial hardship. Answering these questions could, in turn, lead to better interventions.

“As we move to ensure that financial hardship screening is a routine part of cancer care and survivorship, we must determine whether financial hardship is a patient-level construct or a household-level construct,” said Dr. Tucker-Seeley. “The work of Dr. Shankaran in exploring the reports of financial hardship from patients and their caregivers will get us closer to answering that question.”

Reginald Tucker-Seeley, ScD

According to Dr. Tucker-Seeley, given evidence that patients want to discuss their social needs in the health-care delivery system, future research should attempt interventions that reduce financial hardships. “Appropriate resource referrals that have connections with financial capability organizations within the community and patient advocacy organizations are needed to address what we are screening for,” he concluded. 

DISCLOSURE: Dr. Tucker-Seeley reported no conflicts of interest.