Abstract 7094: Financial risks in southeast asian patients with cancer

Abstract Background: Financial toxicity can have devastating long-term effects for cancer patients (pts) and their family members which may impact their access to care, adherence and, ultimately, outcomes. Identifying those at greatest risk is key to mitigating costs and distress to pts. Here we report results from a screening questionnaire on financial risks among Southeast Asian (SE-A) pts. Methods: This retrospective review included pts on the cancer patient registry at Mayo Clinic (Arizona, Florida, Minnesota, Wisconsin, and Iowa) who had completed a clinical visit in an oncology-related department (hematology, medical oncology, radiation oncology, etc) within the past 270 days prior to 6/4/24. Pts completed an electronic social determinant of health questionnaire of which financial risks and transportation needs are the focus of this study: 1) how hard is it for you to pay for the very basics like food, housing, medical care, and heating? 2) in the past 12 months, has lack of transportation kept you from medical appointments or from getting medications. Our primary endpoints include the association between financial risks, active bad debts (defined as having >$5000 owed for high active bad debt, $0-$5000 for some active bad debt), pre-appointment review (PAR) flag status and transportation needs. Descriptive statistics and Chi-square were used to analyze factors associated with financial risks. Results: We identified 81, 731 pts who completed the questionnaire, among whom 387 were SE-A. Compared to non-SE-A and White, 6.5% have some active bad debt vs 3.3% and 3.6% (p<0.001), and 1.0% had high active bad debt vs 0.8% and 0.7% (p<.001); 58.4% had low financial risk vs 60% and 66% (p<0.001) and 2.3% with high risk vs 1.5% and 1.6% (p<0.001), 4.1% declined to answer and 29.7% were unknown. Bad debt was associated with PAR flag (P <0.001) and financial risk (P<0.001). For transportation among SE-A, 2.3% had unmet transportation needs, 1.8% declined/unable to answer, while 17.8% were unknown. Those with transportation needs were associated with active debt and financial risk (p<0.001). Conclusion: In this cohort, we identified SE-A with highest rates of active debt and higher financial risks compared to Non-SE-A and White. A large percentage of patients declined to answer or are unknown. Future pilot questionnaire is in development to identify pts concerns for medical costs, financial strain and the receptivity to be connected to resources/referrals to address them. Citation Format: Nguyen H. Tran, Jordan Mason, Wendy Hanson, Kimberly Steinbert, Minji Lee, Robert McWilliams. Financial risks in southeast asian patients with cancer [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the American Association for Cancer Research Annual Meeting 2025; Part 1 (Regular Abstracts); 2025 Apr 25-30; Chicago, IL. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2025;85(8_Suppl_1):Abstract nr 7094.