Preferred cost communicator and financial distress (FD) in patients with cancer.

26 Background: Prior research has shown that cancer patients (pts) are willing to discuss the costs of their care. Professional societies have thus encouraged physicians to discuss these costs with their pts. We assessed the preferred communicator from the pts’ perspective and the predictors of this preference. Methods: Pts with advanced cancers who had completed at least 3 months of chemotherapy were asked for their preferred cost communicator. Pts were allowed to choose one or more cost communicators. Options included physician, financial counselor, social worker, nurse, and other. We collected demographics, therapy type, mood states, income, length of disease (LoD), clinical trial status, ECOG PS, and health-related quality of life (HRQoL). FD was assessed by the COmprehensive Score for financial Toxicity (COST – FACIT) instrument. Multivariable logistic regression was used to identify factors associated with the preferred cost communicator. Results: 233 patients were assessed. Most pts were female (58...