Assessing California's prostate cancer treatment resources for the working poor in urban and rural California

In 2000, the California legislature created the IMPACT Program (Improving Access, Counseling and Treatment for Californians with Prostate Cancer), a statewide program that provides free prostate cancer treatment to low-income, uninsured or underinsured men. This Program was created with the purpose of filling a gap in California's healthcare safety net. Although the creation of IMPACT was in line with the state's other efforts to address gaps in the healthcare system's ability to address chronic diseases (e.g. Healthy Heart, Breast and Cervical Cancer Treatment Program, and the California Diabetes Program), there remains an ongoing discussion on the need for such a program. Key findings from a California Program on Access to Care funded research study, which assessed county and state-level prostate cancer treatment resources available for the working poor in urban and rural California, will be presented, including: a description of men utilizing IMPACT's services; a discussion of county (San Diego and Tulare) and state-level safety net prostate cancer treatment resources utilizing GIS mapping; and policy implications regarding the continuation of the IMPACT Program will be discussed. This presentation will provide insight into what resources are available to low-income, uninsured men with prostate cancer within California and whether the IMPACT Program is needed.