The Blood & Marrow Transplant Clinical Trial Network (BMT CTN) held a coordinators’ meeting at the 2025 Tandem Meetings in Honolulu in which Warren Fingrut, MD, assistant professor at the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, provided an overview of a program evaluation project that is being conducted to determine the usefulness of proactive financial navigation for patients with aplastic anemia.

During the session Addressing Barriers to Accessing Clinical Trials, he explained that aplastic anemia is a rare, non-cancerous bone disorder that is diagnosed in 600 to 900 people each year in the United States. As a non-cancer diagnosis, there are fewer nonprofit organizations and associations dedicated to assisting individuals with this condition. However, it is well known that bone marrow transplant survivors often face significant financial hardship, even with health insurance coverage. High out-of-pocket medical costs may cause patients to skip medical appointments, avoid filling prescriptions, or postpone preventive care, leading to negative health outcomes.

Proactive financial navigation can help address and reduce this financial toxicity, Fingrut explained.

“This is a service that will provide an extra layer of support via the NMDP℠ Patient Support Center and the navigator staff who have connections to financial programs and resources,” he said. “This program will take a hands-on approach, referring patients to services and resources that are available to them, and will include patient direct touchpoints where the patient determines how frequently they want to engage with the navigator.

NMDP patient navigators are certified oncology patient navigators with a background in social work. They are an extension of the transplant team and can help patients and caregivers navigate the process of securing additional funding and support. The financial navigators for this program will have expertise in bone marrow transplant, NMDP resources, transplant center resources, and aplastic anemia resources.

Patients screened for the phase 2 trial BMT CTN 2207 are eligible to be included in this proactive program. These patients are eligible regardless of whether they go on to receive a bone marrow transplant or enroll in BMT CTN 2207.

The program will be implemented as follows: The study coordinator will screen patients by asking whether they are interested in speaking with a financial navigator. If they are, an intake form will be completed. Within three business days, the NMDP patient navigator will contact patients to assess baseline barriers and connect them with resources. Patients will determine the cadence of follow-up, which will include ongoing assessments of barriers and connections. Patients can opt out at any time.

To evaluate this program, the team will assess contact rate, number of interactions with a navigator, referrals provided, and patient satisfaction. Financial barriers will also be assessed, including housing costs, transportation costs, and medical expenses that have been difficult to cover.

This and other sessions at the 2025 Tandem Meetings | Transplantation & Cellular Therapy Meetings of ASTCT® and CIBMTR® is available for on-demand viewing for registered attendees.