Triage Cancer Resources About Clinical Trials

27 Oct Triage Cancer Resources About Clinical Trials

Posted at 10:00h in Clinical Trials by Triage Cancer

For many reasons, becoming a participant in a clinical trial is surrounded by a great deal of confusion. Triage Cancer wants to provide you with information about participating in a clinical trial, understand insurance coverage for clinical trials, and help you find trials that may be available to you.

Triage Cancer has created a Quick Guide to Clinical Trials that includes information about clinical trials and resources, including:

Finding a Clinical Trial

The first step in your journey is to find a clinical trial. It is important that if you are interested in enrolling in a trial, you work closely with your health care team. Your health care team can help you identify any trials that may be a good fit for you. Sometimes, your first choice for a health care team may not be involved in any ongoing clinical trials, if this is the case and you are still interested in participating, you may choose to seek a second opinion from another health care provider.

You can search for active clinical trials through the American Cancer Society (ACS) Matching Service, the National Cancer Institute, or the National Institutes of Health.

Qualifying for a Clinical Trial

Another thing to keep in mind is that even if you are eligible for a clinical trial, it does not always mean that you will be accepted. Clinical trials must enroll patients that will not skew the final result. This may mean that you have already used a different treatment making you ineligible, the trial may already have enough patients enrolled, or you may not meet other trial criteria. However, if you are still interested in receiving a specific trial treatment, you can request an exception, but your results will not be included in the research study.

Insurance Coverage for a Clinical Trial

Another aspect of clinical trials to consider is whether or not your health insurance will cover treatment or parts of treatment and what your out-of-pocket costs may be. The ACA requires most private insurance to pay for the routine costs involved in your care. These costs include office visits, blood tests, and imaging scans that you would receive if you were already receiving the standard of care. Additionally, insurance companies cannot drop your coverage or refuse to let you take part in a clinical trial. In some cases, however, clinical trials may require additional screenings and tests that your insurance company may not cover.

Clinical trials will often cover these costs. Insurance companies are also not required to cover care from out of network providers or hospitals. The key to avoiding any surprise out-of-pocket costs is to talk with your health care team and your insurance company directly.

We’ve partnered with our friends EmergingMed to bring you free access to their Clinical Trials Matching Program. Just fill out a short questionnaire for suggested trials that best fit your diagnosis and geographical location.

Be sure to also visit Triage Cancer’s Clinical Trials Page for additional resources and see our animated video on How to Find & Pay For Clinical Trials!