Meeting Patients Where They Are At in Cancer Care: Amanda Green, MPH

Patient-centered oncology care starts with meeting patients "where they're at" in their treatment goals, Amanda Green, MPH, senior manager of health care advancement at the National Alliance of Healthcare Purchaser Coalitions, told The American Journal of Managed Care^® in part 1 of an interview at the 2026 Community Oncology Alliance Payer Exchange & Innovation Summit.

On September 14, Green was a panelist during “The Employer’s Guide to Patient-Centered Oncology Care,” where she and other experts discussed how quality measures support patients receiving high-quality cancer care close to where they live and work.

From an employer's perspective, patient-centered oncology care means ensuring patients receive the right treatment at the right time for their specific goals, Green said. She argued that this starts well before a diagnosis: employers should build communication channels and navigation support into their benefits proactively so that when an employee does receive a cancer diagnosis, those resources are already in place rather than something to figure out after the fact.

On evaluating cancer benefits beyond cost, Green acknowledged that oncology is consistently the top high-cost claim category for employers, which keeps it firmly on their radar. Cost is only 1 piece of the cancer journey, she emphasized. When her team developed an oncology guidebook, Green explained that they prioritized elements employers might overlook, such as survivorship planning, counseling, and caregiver support, as benefits that meaningfully improve the experience for employees going through treatment.

Green also tied quality measures directly to whether a cancer program is delivering effective, patient-centered care. Quality data give employers confidence that employees are being directed to the right facilities and that the plan is paying for the right treatments, she noted. Green cited a Cancer Care Nation survey finding that 43% of newly diagnosed patients receive referrals that aren't necessarily the best fit for their situation, often because patients default to a well-known "number 1" cancer center rather than the center best suited to their specific diagnosis. Having outcome-specific data on individual community oncology centers allows employers to have more informed conversations with employees about where to seek care, she argued.

“A lot of times, if you're just getting a doctor referral, or patients hear a number 1 medical cancer center, they're going to want to go there, and it might not be the best fit for them, which brings us back to the point of the right treatment, right time, for the right patient,” Green said.

Across all 3 areas, Green returned to that same organizing principle: right treatment, right time, right patient. This framework links proactive benefit design, transparency around quality and outcomes, and individualized navigation as the foundation of effective employer-driven cancer care support.