Office of Patient Advocacy (OPA) Contract Summary

Under the OPA function, the CWBYCTP charged the contractor for the OPA contract with the following responsibilities:

• Be an advocate for patients, for:
  • Providing one-on-one support to help patients, families, and health care professionals from diagnosis through survivorship
  • Identifying and reducing barriers to transplant, including financial issues and insurance coverage
  • Providing information that is easy to understand and fits the patient's culture and language
  • Ensuring patient confidentiality throughout the search and transplant process
  • Evaluating the need for bone marrow or umbilical cord blood transplants and recruiting donors and cord blood units, with a focus on adding racially and ethnically diverse donors and cord blood units to the registry
• Provide information and education to patients, families, health care professionals, and the public, so that:
  • Patients and families make informed decisions about their treatment options
  • Health professionals have information to help them provide the best care for their patients
  • Transplant center data, including survival outcomes and number of transplants, are available
• Provide search expertise and guidance for patients and families
• Develop and maintain the CWBYCTP website

OPA standards & measurements

Monitoring the performance of the CWBYCTP against specific standards is key to helping more patients have a successful bone marrow or umbilical cord blood transplant.

Performance standards for the OPA include:

• Advocacy and case management services in the form of:
  • Identifying barriers to transplants and providing assistance for overcoming them
  • Assisting individuals in obtaining insurance support and other sources of financial support
  • Informing patients about their eligibility for research protocols
  • Providing ongoing support and information to caregivers and other family members of patients
• Assisting patients with their search needs by:
  • Periodically providing to the patient information regarding bone marrow donors or cord blood units that are suitably matched to the patient
  • Informing the patient if the search has been interrupted or discontinued
  • Identifying and resolving problems in the search, to the extent practicable
• Dissemination of information, such as transplant center-specific survival data, educational materials, and financial resources, to patients and health care providers

The OPA contractor regularly reports performance measurements to HRSA.

OPA contractor

Learn how this organization is fulfilling its contract.

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