PROVIDENCE – The pink lights at the Statehouse may have dimmed, but efforts to launch a new statewide rehabilitation program initiative for breast cancer survivors is moving ahead full speed.
Oncology Rehab Partners, a Marlborough, Mass. based company led by Dr. Julie Silvers, herself a breast cancer survivor, is focusing on Rhode Island to develop a cancer rehabilitation program the standard of care for survivors.
Oncology Rehab is bringing its Survivorship Training and Rehabilitation (STAR) certification program to Rhode Island hospitals, rehabilitation facilities and clinicians. Under newly revised guidelines, the American College of Surgeons’ Commission on Cancer now requires its 1,400 accredited hospitals to offer a follow-up “care plan” to every cancer survivor.
Oncology Rehab Partners has positioned its STAR program as a way for health care facilities to establish, or expand, oncology rehabilitation programs within three to six months – touting it as being quicker, more effective and less costly than if a medical practice was required to conduct its own research and develop.
In Rhode Island, the work of Oncology Rehab Partners is being underwritten in part by Gloria Gemma Breast Cancer Resource Foundation, through funds raised from its 2011 5K race in October.
Oncology Rehab Partners is reported to have developed working relationships with Women & Infants Hospital, Kent Hospital, South County Hospital, Newport Hospital, Rehabilitation Hospital of Rhode Island, and Rhode Island Rehabilitation Centers, according to a recent cover story in Advance magazine, a national physical therapy publication. Its cover photo about the effort, on the front steps of the R.I. Statehouse, featured Gov. Lincoln D. Chafee.
Silver, an assistant professor at Harvard Medical School who started the company, Oncology Rehab Partners, speaks with the authority of her own experience as a breast cancer survivor. “It’s not OK to tell patients they have to accept a new normal,” she recently told USA Today. “They should not have to live with more pain and disability than they need to.” Study after study, she continued, shows that cancer survivors “are distressed not because of the diagnosis, but because of their inability to function.”
The expectation is that within a few months, these programs will complete accreditation, be available to patients – and be covered by health insurance.
Exactly what is covered by health insurers may need some further definition. According to Kimberly R. Reingold, spokeswoman for Blue Cross & Blue Shield of Rhode Island, “Blue Cross covers inpatient rehabilitation services or skilled nursing facility care for rehabilitation, depending on the patient’s clinical needs and ability to participate in therapy.” Blue Cross also covers outpatient speech, physical therapy, occupational therapy and physician services related to rehabilitation, Reingold continued. However, rehabilitation services are related to functional and therapeutic needs, she explained. “There is no specific benefit category for cancer just as there is no specific benefit category for care related to a stroke or trauma,” Reingold said. Further, something such as yoga classes are not a covered benefit.
In an unrelated breast cancer awareness effort, First Lady Stephanie Chafee helped to launch a new Rhode Island license plate in support of breast cancer on Oct. 25. The plate costs $41.50, with $20 going to the nonprofit R.I. Breast Cancer Coalition. The legislation to create the new license plate was originally introduced by former Rep. Al Gemma.
In a separate development, Laura Adams, president and CEO of the Rhode Island Quality Institute, was recently diagnosed with breast cancer, which she shared with the audience at the recent Life Sciences Technology Showcase. Adams said she chose to go public with her diagnosis and share information because it was an opportunity for awareness and education. Adams described the dissonance of carrying her own medical records from appointment to appointment in her personal life, at the same time that she was championing the creation of a health information exchange in Rhode Island as part of her professional life. Adams will talk directly about her experiences in an upcoming 5 Questions feature with Providence Business News.
