Accenture Teams with Harold P. Freeman Patient Navigation Institute to Help Equip Patient Navigators with Job Skills
National initiative supports Accenture’s Skills to Succeed corporate citizenship focus, targets Cleveland for first program
NEW YORK; April 28, 2011– Accenture (NYSE: ACN) and the Harold P. Freeman Patient Navigation Institute (PNI) today announced that they are teaming to equip more people with the skills to get jobs as patient navigators, who provide one-on-one guidance and assistance to patients dealing with the health care system.
The national effort, part of Accenture’s corporate citizenship initiative Skills to Succeed, focuses on three areas. First, Accenture has worked with PNI to create a Website that features an online and text donation mechanism to enable donations to fund student scholarships for patient navigators. The site was launched for the upcoming Tribeca Film Festival premiere of The Education of Dee Dee Ricks. The documentary captures one patient’s experience and highlights the work of PNI and the need for more patient navigators.
Second, Accenture employees will coach and mentor PNI graduates on business skills, including resume-writing and interview skills to support their job searches. Finally, Accenture and PNI are focusing on Cleveland, Ohio, to create their first community program to help identify candidates and enable their access to training. As a first step, Accenture has conducted an assessment, which found that, over the next few years, the Cleveland area will require several hundred new patient navigators.
“With 60 hospitals and a significant concentration of medical leaders, Cleveland is an ideal market in which to expand patient navigation,” said Jim Dickey, Accenture’s managing director in Cleveland. “Through our relationship with PNI, we can help build the skills of individuals interested in pursuing jobs as patient navigators, help improve the quality of healthcare and, ultimately, have an impact on the economic vitality of our community.”
Patient navigators, an emerging job in the healthcare field, eliminate barriers to timely screening, diagnosis, treatment and supportive care within the fragmented healthcare system, and they reduce disparities in access to diagnosis and treatment of cancer and chronic diseases, particularly among poor and uninsured people. “Navigators can play an important role in connecting patients to advanced care,” said Mark Knickrehm, global managing director, Accenture Health. “From detection to recovery, patient navigators improve access and coordination to expertise, treatment and technology.”
“Our work with PNI helps bring to life Accenture’s commitment to building skills – drawing on our people’s passion, experience and dedication to developing and nurturing talent,” said LaMae Allen deJongh, managing director, Accenture US Human Capital & Diversity. “This innovative public/private partnership can make a significant, lasting impact on the economic well-being of individuals, by developing skills and connecting people with the right job opportunities.”
“By training more people to become patient navigators, local healthcare systems will be better equipped to meet a community’s specific needs,” said Harold P. Freeman, M.D., of the Patient Navigation Institute. “This effort will not only increase our number of patient navigators, but will also encourage more hospitals, health clinics and community-based organization to adopt the PNI training program to provide patients across the country with better access to healthcare services.”
About Accenture
Accenture is a global management consulting, technology services and outsourcing company, with more than 215,000 people serving clients in more than 120 countries. Combining unparalleled experience, comprehensive capabilities across all industries and business functions, and extensive research on the world’s most successful companies, Accenture collaborates with clients to help them become high-performance businesses and governments. Through its Skills to Succeed corporate citizenship focus, Accenture is committed to equipping 250,000 people around the world by 2015 with the skills to get a job or build a business. The company generated net revenues of US$21.6 billion for the fiscal year ended Aug. 31, 2010. Its home page is www.accenture.com.
The Harold P. Freeman Patient Navigation Institute
Patient navigation was founded by Harold P. Freeman, M.D. in 1990, when he initiated and developed the first Patient Navigation program in Harlem to reduce disparities in access to diagnosis and treatment of cancer, particularly among poor and uninsured people. In 2007, as a direct result of a $2.5M grant received from the Amgen Foundation, the Ralph Lauren Center for Cancer Care and Prevention established The Harold P. Freeman Patient Navigation Institute (HPFPNI) to support Patient Navigation training to individuals and those associated with organizations. The Institute opened its doors to address the growth in Patient Navigation programs, but also to offer standards and best practices that are customizable to meet each program’s needs. For more information, please visit www.hpfreemanpni.org.
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Contact:
Kate Sansone
Accenture
+1 (917) 452-3784
Jennifer Francis
Accenture
+1 (630) 338-6426