Health Plan Coverage
Finding a Blood Cancer Specialist
Choosing a Treatment Center
Types of Cancer Treatment Centers
Finding a Treatment Center
Get More Information
Contact Us

Some people choose a treatment center first, while others begin by choosing a physician to manage the treatment. Some have the option to travel to another city or state to receive their care, while others do not. Whatever the situation, knowing the questions to ask, issues to consider and resources available will help you make informed choices.

Health Plan Coverage

For most people, health plan coverage is an important consideration when choosing a specialist or treatment center. Some health plans require a referral from the primary care physician for a consultation with a specialist. They may also require that you choose from the plan's list of specialists and affiliated treatment centers. This is usually known as "in-network" specialists or treatment centers. Check with your health plan policy and speak to your health plan representative to understand the coverage provided by your plan.

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Finding a Blood Cancer Specialist

Hematologists and oncologists are specialists who treat persons with leukemia, lymphoma, myeloma, myelodysplastic syndromes and myeloproliferative disorders. Pediatric hematology-oncologists treat children, adolescents and some young adults with blood cancers. The oncologist or hematology-oncologist will coordinate a treatment and follow-up plan that will involve other physicians as well as nurses, social workers, case managers and nutritionists. This group of healthcare providers is often called the treatment team.

Click here for a printable question guide to help you in choosing a specialist.  You may find it helpful to bring a family member or friend to participate in the discussion, take notes and provide support.  

There are several ways to find a specialist, including:

• Asking your primary care physician whom he or she would use
• Contacting your community cancer center
• Calling your local medical society
• Reaching out to physician and/or health plan referral services
• Calling LLS for a list of cancer centers or visiting the LLS Web site and clicking on "Cancer Centers"
• Speaking to family and friends
• Using online physician-finder resources, such as
   
  - The American Board of Medical Specialties (ABMS) Web site, which offers a service to help patients find board-certified specialists
  - The American Medical Association (AMA) "DoctorFinder," a resource available through the AMA Web site, which provides patients and the general public with basic professional information on most licensed physicians in the United States.
  - "Find a hematologist," a service provided by the American Society of Hematology (ASH), which helps match patients with hematologists in their area.
  - "Find an Oncologist," a service offered by Cancer.Net, the patient information Web site of the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO), which helps match patients with physicians and healthcare professionals who participate in approved oncology programs
  - "DocFinder," a service provided by Administrators in Medicine (AIM) and the National Organization for State Medical & Osteopathic Board Executive Directors, which provides physician licensing and disciplinary information.

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Choosing a Treatment Center

Selecting a cancer treatment center may depend on several factors including your diagnosis, area of residence and healthcare coverage. You will want to choose a center that has the medical expertise to provide the type of treatment you will need and is an accredited treatment center. Participating in an accreditation process means that an organization is evaluated against national standards. Most healthcare organizations and programs in the United States follow an evaluation process so that they can be accredited by the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations.

Many comprehensive cancer centers, clinical cancer centers and community oncology centers are "NCI-designated." This means they are evaluated every three to five years by the National Cancer Institute (NCI). These centers are likely to offer the newest treatment options.

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Types of Cancer Treatment Centers

• NCI-Designated Cancer Centers. The NCI coordinates the National Cancer Program, which supports a national network of cancer centers and ensures they meet scientific, organizational and administrative criteria in order to be recognized by the institute. There are two types of cancer centers recognized by the NCI:

-NCI-designated comprehensive cancer centers offer the most recent advances in cancer diagnosis and treatment, including participation in cancer clinical trials. These centers also provide community outreach and education programs about cancer. The benefits of choosing one of these centers include access to a unit or associated center that performs stem-cell transplantation.

-NCI-designated clinical cancer centers also offer the most up-to-date advances in cancer diagnosis and treatment. These centers offer experienced healthcare professionals access to clinical trials and to an associated center that performs stem cell transplantation.

• University-Affiliated Hospitals or Centers. These centers are affiliated with a university or medical school and provide training to medical students. They may be NCI-designated and are likely to offer up-to-date cancer treatment and care, have a supportive staff and have a unit or associated center that performs stem cell transplantation.
  
  
• Community Cancer Centers or Local Hospitals. Patients may choose to receive care at one of these centers because of the convenience of being able to get treatment close to home, or because they already know the healthcare professionals who practice there. If the local treatment center or hematology-oncologist is affiliated with the Community Clinical Oncology Program known as CCOP (an NCI-designated program), patients may be able to receive NCI-sponsored treatments, including access to clinical trials, at the local center.

Patients may also choose to travel to another city or state if there are no NCI-designated centers near home. When travel is not an option and the local center is not affiliated with the NCI and/or a university or medical school, it is important to ask the local specialist if he or she will be able to consult with area university specialists or NCI researchers before or during the course of treatment.

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Finding a Treatment Center

There are several ways to find a treatment center, including

• Asking your primary care physician for a referral
• Reaching out to physician and/or health plan referral services
• Calling LLS for a list of cancer centers or visiting the LLS Web site and clicking on "Cancer Centers"
• Contacting any of the following organizations:

- The Association of Community Cancer Centers (ACCC), which provides information on more than 670 community cancer centers
- "Find an Approved Cancer Program Near You," a service offered by the Commission on Cancer (CoC) that is available through the American College of Surgeons Web site
- The Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations, which provides information on more than 15,000 healthcare organizations and programs in the United States
- The National Cancer Institute (NCI) Cancer Center Programs Web site, which provides a listing of all NCI-designated cancer centers across the country
- The National Marrow Donor Program (NMDP) Web site, which offers information on transplant centers in the United States.

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Get More Information

For more information about selecting a specialist or treatment center, please see the free LLS fact sheet Choosing a Blood Cancer Specialist or Treatment Center.

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Contact Us

The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society
1311 Mamaroneck Avenue
White Plains, NY 10605

Or call the Information Resource Center at (800) 955-4572