UCLA doctors received $9.3 million to help reduce the cost of prostate cancer treatment across California.
The state of California awarded the grant to doctors in the UCLA urology department last week. The money will be used over the next three years to fund the Improving Access, Counseling and Treatment for Californians program, an organization that provides free prostate cancer treatment to men in California who are underinsured or uninsured. The program matches eligible men with one of 600 health care providers across California for treatment.
Even with health insurance, more than one-third of cancer patients spend more out-of-pocket for their treatment than they expect to pay, according to a study from Duke University.
IMPACT also pairs affected men with a nurse case manager who organizes and coordinates treatment and informs patients to improve their health literacy.
Mark Litwin, a professor of urology in the David Geffen School of Medicine, heads the program, which has provided treatment to 2,200 men over the 17 years that it has existed.
The California Department of Health Care services has given $85 million to the organization since 2001.