Going Beyond Pharmacy in Caring for Cancer Patients

Medication management is a critical part of the complex treatment of cancer.

From providing nutritional services to counseling for side effect management to assisting with finding funding for the costs of treatment – Express Scripts specialty-trained clinicians provide disease-specific expertise to assist those diagnosed with cancer. But we do even more than that.

Doing More for Patients

As a social worker with Accredo, an Express Scripts company, I work directly with patients who may experience depression, financial struggles or need transportation to their treatment location.

Recently, I had the opportunity to work with a patient who was undergoing cancer treatment. Originally from the Philippines, she only spoke Tagalong. She had hopes to bring her daughter to the U.S. as well, but didn’t know how to start the process.

I researched information about the US Embassy in Manila and provided the daughter with resources she would need including the type of visa, the sites to gather the instructions in her language and contact information for her State Senator and Representative offices to help process her request.

Another time, I worked with a 57-year-old man who was diagnosed with terminal lung cancer. He needed assistance to understand what he could do financially in the time he had left, and still be able to leave resources for his loved ones. He also wanted to locate counseling resources for family members who were struggling with his diagnosis.

I researched agencies in his area and found a program that provides free financial planning services to seniors. I also connected the patient with a cancer support community which offers free individual and group counseling for patients and family and friends of those diagnosed with cancer.

Cancer is a scary disease for anyone to be diagnosed with. Every day – but especially on World Cancer Day – I’m proud of the work Express Scripts does for patients fighting this disease.