Oral Presentation Clinical Oncology Society of Australia Annual Scientific Meeting 2026

How does COSA’s ‘Roadmap to Reducing Financial Toxicity Experienced by People Affected by Cancer’ align with the Australian Cancer Plan? An expert-informed document analysis (145903)

Reegan Knowles 1 , Sue Woodall 2 , Carla Thamm 1 , Megan Varlow 3 , Kate Whittaker 4 , Deme J Karikios 3 , Raymond J Chan 1
  1. Flinders LiveWell Cancer Research Program, Flinders University, Adelaide, SA, Australia
  2. Live Work Cancer, Sydney, NSW, Australia
  3. Cancer Institute NSW, Sydney, NSW, Australia
  4. Cancer Care Policy, Cancer Council Australia, Sydney, NSW, Australia

Introduction

To reduce the impact of financial toxicity (FT) on people affected by cancer, COSA developed the Roadmap to Reducing Financial Toxicity (FT) Experienced by People Affected by Cancer to guide coordinated efforts by organisations and stakeholders. The Roadmap includes 26 recommended actions across five domains: advocacy, the role of cancer care services, information and support, supportive workplace environments, and research. To support implementation, it is important to understand how the Roadmap aligns with the Australian Cancer Plan (ACP).

Methods

An expert-informed qualitative document analysis was conducted to examine the Roadmap’s alignment with the ACP and the extent to which Roadmap actions were covered by ACP policy priorities. Drawing on the READ framework, we applied a pragmatic, adaptive approach to identify ACP actions corresponding to Roadmap recommendations and characterise these alignments.

Results

All 26 Roadmap actions aligned with at least one ACP action, resulting in 53 concordant action pairs. Of these, 25 reflected direct policy coverage, while 28 represented enabling relationships, whereby ACP actions created conditions that would be supportive of Roadmap implementation. Strong alignment was observed for recommendations in Domain 2 (Shared Role for Cancer Care Services), with direct links to ACP priorities in healthcare service reform, workforce capacity, and patient navigation. In contrast, Domain 4 (Supportive Work Environments and Financial Protections) demonstrated limited alignment, suggesting that issues related to employment and income security sit largely outside the ACP’s healthcare-focused remit.

Conclusions

These findings demonstrate that the Roadmap is substantially supported within Australia’s national cancer policy environment. This alignment may strengthen stakeholder confidence in the Roadmap and facilitate adoption of actions to reduce the financial impact of cancer. However, the lack of policy coverage relating to employment and income security highlights the need for cross-sector collaboration to enable implementation of some Roadmap actions.