First Lady Jill Biden Speaks At Atrium Health Levine Cancer Institute

CHARLOTTE, N.C. – As part of the Biden Cancer Moonshot, the First Lady, Dr. Jill Biden, visited Atrium Health Levine Cancer in Charlotte Friday afternoon, where she highlighted the Biden Administration’s efforts to expand access to patient navigation services and address the financial burden of cancer care. The First Lady was be joined by Dr. Kimryn Rathmell, Director of the National Cancer Institute.

The First Lady, Dr. Rathmell, Mayor Lyles, and Vice Chair Jerrell received a briefing at the Charlotte campus of the Atrium Wake Forest Baptist Comprehensive Cancer Center – a multi-campus National Cancer Institute Designated Cancer Center and part of the Atrium Health Levine Cancer program. The briefing highlighted Atrium Health Levine Cancer’s robust patient navigation program and its plans to expand the program, which will bring support to more cancer patients and their loved ones across North Carolina as a result of the Biden Administration’s actions to ensure Medicare and private health insurers can pay for navigation services. Also highlighted was Atrium Health Levine Cancer’s Financial Toxicity Tumor Board – a first-of-its-kind program that supports patients by helping address the financial burden of cancer care.

WCCB’s Emma Mondo was live on Facebook at Atrium Health Levine Cancer ahead of Dr Biden’s visit.

The Biden Administration’s Efforts to Bring More Support to Cancer Patients and their Families:

In November of 2023, the Biden Administration announced new actions to expand access to patient navigation services for Americans who are facing cancer – specifically, medical billing codes that newly enable Medicare and other health insurers to pay for navigation services. Due to the lack of a coherent set of codes to report navigation services, Medicare and other health insurers were previously generally unable to pay for navigation services. As a result, many health systems and providers were unable to provide these services to cancer patients and their families. The Biden Administration successfully put in place a suite of codes that health insurers, health care providers, and health systems can use to provide patient navigation services – paving a pathway for more support for patients and their families.

Ahead of the President’s 2023 State of the Union Address, as part of his Unity Agenda, the Biden Cancer Moonshot committed to taking steps to ensure that patient navigation services would be accessible for as many people facing cancer as possible. Navigation services not only improve the experience of patients and their families, they also improve health outcomes and provide value back to the health care system. Since then, the Biden Cancer Moonshot, with First Lady Jill Biden’s leadership, has engaged federal agencies, professional associations, and private industry to expand access to navigation services.

Cancer Moonshot:

As Vice President, in 2016, Joe Biden led the Cancer Moonshot with the mission to accelerate the rate of progress against cancer. The cancer advocacy, patient, research, and health care communities responded with tremendous energy and ingenuity. In February 2022, the President and the First Lady reignited the Biden Cancer Moonshot and set a new national goal: to reduce the death rate from cancer by at least 50 percent over the next 25 years, and improve the experience of people and families living with and surviving cancer, ultimately ending cancer as we know it today.

The Biden Cancer Moonshot has spurred tremendous action across the federal government and from the public and private sectors, building a strong foundation for the work ahead. Last year, the President stood up the first-ever Cancer Cabinet to mobilize the federal government, and called on individuals, health care providers, and leaders across sectors to step up and take action in five key priority areas: (1) close the screening gap, (2) understand and address environmental exposure, (3) decrease the impact of preventable cancers, (4) bring cutting-edge research through the pipeline to patients and communities, and (5) support patients and caregivers. To date, the Cancer Moonshot has announced over 25 new programs, policies, and resources to address these five priority areas.

Dr. Biden’s Cancer Advocacy Efforts:

The First Lady has been a tireless champion of the Biden Cancer Moonshot, traveling the country and the world to hear from cancer patients and their families, as well as those who support them. As First Lady, Dr. Biden has focused on supporting cancer patients and their loved ones, especially by championing the importance of navigation services, early detection, and improving the experience of patients, families, and caregivers. Since the start of the Biden Administration, the First Lady has participated in more than 40 Cancer Moonshot engagements and has visited 16 cities in almost a dozen states.

Dr. Biden’s advocacy for cancer education and prevention began in 1993, when four of her friends were diagnosed with breast cancer. Following that year, she launched the Biden Breast Health Initiative to educate Delaware high school girls about the importance of cancer prevention. In 2015, after Dr. Biden and then-Vice President Joe Biden lost their son Beau to brain cancer, they helped push for a national commitment to ending cancer as we know it through the White House Cancer Moonshot. Following the Obama-Biden Administration, then-former Vice President Biden and Dr. Biden continued their cancer work through the Biden Cancer Initiative.

Atrium Health Levine Cancer:

Atrium Health Levine Cancer, part of the Charlotte-based hospital network Atrium Health, is the largest cancer program in the Carolinas and one of the largest programs in the Southeast. The program includes the Atrium Health Wake Forest Baptist Comprehensive Cancer, which has campuses in both Winston-Salem and Charlotte. Across Atrium Health Levine Cancer, more than 440 providers across 78 practices and 28 locations care for more than 35,000 new patients each year.