Malignant Solid NeoplasmNCT06771739
A Pilot Unrestricted Payment Program for Early-stage Cancer Patients: the PAYMENT Trial
A study testing Electronic Health Record Review, Interview and Support in people with Malignant Solid Neoplasm, run by Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center at 3 sites in United States.
Trial summary
This clinical trial studies whether an unrestricted cash payment program can be used to improve financial and clinical outcomes in early-stage cancer patients with financial concerns. Read more about this study
- Who is it for?
- Ages 18 years and older
- Conditions the study is for
- Malignant Solid Neoplasm
- What is being tested?
- Electronic Health Record Review, Interview and Support
- Could I receive a placebo?
- No, everyone receives an active treatment
- How many people
- 20 participants
- Where
- 3 sitesUnited States
- Study dates
- 15 Nov 2026to 1 Dec 2026
- Phase
- Interventional
Key requirements
Who can take part, as listed by the sponsor. Only the study team can confirm whether you are eligible, so take this list to your doctor.
- Ages 18 years and older
- All sexes
- No healthy volunteers
- Adult, Older adult
Who may be able to join
- Age >= 18
- Ability to understand English
- Ability to understand and willingness to sign a written informed consent document. Legally authorized representatives may sign and give informed consent on behalf of study participants
- Within 90 days of a non-metastatic or early-stage solid tumor receiving or rescheduled to receive treatment in the neoadjuvant, adjuvant or definitive setting for curative intent. Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group (ECOG) performance status (PS) 0-2
- Current cancer patient at PeaceHealth (Southwest Medical Center or St. Joes)
- Not current Medicaid enrollee
- Not enrolled in hospice
- Screens positive for financial fragility
Who cannot join
None listed.
Trial locations and contacts
3 sites in 1 country. Contact the study team or a site near you to ask about taking part.
United States3 sites, 3 recruiting
- Not yet recruiting
PeaceHealth Saint Joseph Medical Center
Bellingham, Washington, 98225
Kara Makin-Bond, RN, CCRP
- Recruiting
PeaceHealth St. John Medical Center
Longview, Washington, 98632
Kara Makin-Bond, RN, CCRP
- Recruiting
PeaceHealth Southwest Medical Center
Vancouver, Washington, 98664
Kara Makin-Bond, RN, CCRP
About this study
Official title: Preventing Financial Adversity Among Early-Stage Cancer Patients Through Unrestricted Cash (PAYMENT) Pilot Study
This clinical trial studies whether an unrestricted cash payment program can be used to improve financial and clinical outcomes in early-stage cancer patients with financial concerns. A cancer diagnosis can have poor financial outcomes, and the cost of cancer treatment can lead to high medical debt and financial hardships for the patient and family. Financial hardship during cancer treatment is associated with adverse outcomes including poorer quality of life, lower treatment compliance, more aggressive use of hospital-based care, and worse survival. Newly diagnosed cancer patients with financial concerns may avoid treatment entirely so that they can continue to work and maintain income, provide for their families, or pay rent. An unrestricted cash payment program provides patients with a preloaded cash card once monthly. The patients can choose what to use the card to pay for and may include items like food, rent, or utilities. This provides a period of guaranteed income for the patients and may prevent them from falling into poverty and improve financial and clinical outcomes.
Read the detailed description
OUTLINE: Patients are randomized to 1 of 2 arms.
ARM A: Patients receive a $1000 preloaded cash card once monthly for 3 months.
ARM B: Patients receive a $100 preloaded cash card once monthly for 3 months.
After completion of study intervention, patients are followed up 3 months and 6 months post randomization.
- Conditions
- Malignant Solid Neoplasm
- Being tested
- Electronic Health Record Review, Interview, Support, Survey Administration
What participants receive
What participants receive. In a randomised study each person is assigned to one group by chance.
Electronic Health Record ReviewOther
Ancillary studies
InterviewOther
Ancillary studies
SupportOther
Also called Supportive - procedure intent
Receive $1000 preloaded cash card
SupportOther
Also called Supportive - procedure intent
Receive $100 preloaded cash card
Survey AdministrationOther
Ancillary studies
| Study group | Role | What they receive |
|---|---|---|
| Arm A (high payment schedule) | Experimental | Patients receive a $1000 preloaded cash card once monthly for 3 months. Receives: Other: Electronic Health Record Review; Other: Interview; Other: Support; Other: Survey Administration |
| Arm B (low payment schedule) | Active comparator | Patients receive a $100 preloaded cash card once monthly for 3 months. Receives: Other: Electronic Health Record Review; Other: Interview; Other: Support; Other: Survey Administration |
What is being measured
The primary outcome is the main question the study is designed to answer.
Participant enrollment
Feasibility will be measured by participant enrollment (percent enrolled versus [vs.] approached). The study will be considered feasible to implement if 60% or more of approached patients enroll.
Measured: Up to 1 year
Time to accrue 20 patients
Feasibility will be measured by the time in months to accrue 20 patients. The study will be considered feasible if accrual is reached by 6 months.
Measured: Up to 1 year
Dropout rate
Feasibility will be measured by dropout during study period. The study will be considered feasible to implement if less than 20% of patients drop out. Will be able to estimate a drop-out rate of 20% to within a 95% confidence interval of +/- 18%.
Measured: Up to 1 year
Survey completion rate
Feasibility will be measure by rates of survey completion. The study will be considered feasible to implement if survey completion is 90% or greater.
Measured: Up to 1 year
Secondary outcomes (5)
Financial hardship
Will assess whether patient self-reports one or more of the following: new debt (relative to baseline), income decline of 20% or more, loans from family/friends to pay for cancer treatment, selling/refinancing primary home, >= 2 months missed rent or mortgage payments, evictions. May adjust either the methods for assessing financial hardship (e.g. using credit reports rather than surveys) or the endpoint itself based on observed survey completion rate and incidence of each endpoint.
Measured: Baseline, 3 and 6- months post randomization
Treatment nonadherence
Will assess whether patient self reports they did or did not skip medication doses or refuse/decline recommended therapy due to cost concerns. Evidence of treatment completion vs. missed treatments/appointments using data from electronic medical record captured by research assistant.
Measured: Baseline, 3 and 6- months post randomization
Unplanned emergency department (ED)/hospital admissions
All instances of ED visits and hospital stays (including reason for visit) will be abstracted from patients' medical records. The study team will categorize visits as anticipated (for chemotherapy or planned procedure) vs. unanticipated (complication or treatment side effect).
Measured: Baseline, 3 and 6- months post randomization
Food and housing insecurity
Will be assessed using items 1 through 4 of the 10-item Health-Related Social Needs Screening Tool from Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.
Measured: Baseline, 3 and 6- months post randomization
Quality of life
Will be assessed using the composite score from the European Quality of Life Five Dimension Index (scored 0-100). A 6-point score change is considered clinically meaningful in United States cancer populations.
Measured: Baseline, 3 and 6- months post randomization
Timeline
From the start of the study to its completion; the mark is today. Estimated dates are the sponsor’s plan.
- First posted13 Jan 2025
- Study start15 Nov 2026 (estimated)
- Primary completion1 Dec 2026 (estimated)
- Study completion1 Dec 2026 (estimated)
Resources
- Official record on ClinicalTrials.govThe registry entry this page is built from, with its full change history.
- Other trials for Malignant Solid NeoplasmStudies of the same condition, open and under way.
- What the trial phases meanHow a treatment moves from first tests in people to approval.
More details
For doctors and researchers: how the study is designed, who runs it, and its registry IDs.
Study design
- Study type
- Interventional
- Phase
- Phase N/A
- Primary purpose
- Health services research
- Allocation
- Randomised
- Intervention model
- Parallel groups
- Masking
- None (open label)
- Enrolment
- 20 participants (estimated)
Sponsor and investigators
- Lead sponsor
- Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center
- Sponsor type
- University, hospital or other
- Collaborators
- National Cancer Institute (NCI), Oregon Health and Science University, SWOG Cancer Research Network
- Responsible party
- Sponsor
- Investigators
- Veena Shankaran, MD, Principal investigator, Fred Hutch/University of Washington Cancer Consortium
IDs, dates and publications
- ClinicalTrials.gov ID
- NCT06771739
- Sponsor's protocol ID
- RG1124982
- Other IDs
- NCI-2024-10341, UG1CA189974
- Status last verified
- Sep 2026
- First submitted
- 8 Jan 2025
- Last updated
- 20 Oct 2026
- Results posted
- No
- Data monitoring committee
- No
- FDA-regulated drug
- No
- FDA-regulated device
- No
- Individual data sharing
- No