Table 2. Core metrics for patient navigation during cancer treatment.

Domains	Metrics	Notes on operationalization of these metrics	Quality/benchmark
Goals of treatment	Palliative vs. curative intent established	Provides data regarding possible goals for treatment that can be tracked as appropriate depending on disease status
Timeliness of care	Consult with oncology provider to first treatment date	Calculated as time in days between dates	Institutional specific baseline*
	Time intervals between modalities (surgery to radiation, chemotherapy to surgery/radiation)	Calculated as time in days between dates	Institutional specific baseline
	Concordant start dates of radiation therapy and chemotherapy (when indicated/relevant)	Yes/no	Institutional specific baseline. <br>For certain treatment regimens that require coordination of chemotherapy and RT, the benchmark should be 100% concordance.
Treatment adherence	Recommended surgery performed, guideline adherent	Yes/no	Benchmark should be 100%.<br>Can compare with institutional specific baseline.
	Recommended chemotherapy received/completed	Yes/no	Benchmark should be 100%.<br>Can compare with institutional specific baseline.
	Recommended radiation therapy received/completed	Yes/no	Benchmark should be 100%.<br>Can compare with institutional specific baseline.
	Radiation therapy treatment days missed	Not including weekends/holidays	Institutional specific baseline
	Reasons for radiation therapy days missed	Particular attention to reasons not related to medical indications for omission of radiation treatment; data can be used to tailor barrier tracking and resolution.
	Chemotherapy cycles missed/omitted	Particular attention to whether reasons outside of medical indications resulted in cycles omitted; data can be used to tailor barrier tracking and resolution.
	On-treatment appointments missed		Institutional specific baseline
Guideline adherence	Staging work-up/tests completed	Yes/no	Benchmark should be 100%.<br>Can compare with institutional specific baseline
	Breast conservation therapy (BCT)vs. mastectomy for BCT eligible breast cancer patients	Especially in settings/populations where barriers exist to receipt of a course of radiation therapy as part of BCT	Institutional specific baseline. <br>When institutional baseline is not available, rates published in the literature for similar populations can be used for comparison.
	Receipt of adjuvant chemotherapy for colorectal cancer patients (when appropriate)	Yes/no	Institutional specific baseline. <br>When institutional baseline is not available, rates published in the literature for similar populations can be used for comparison.
	Receipt of adjuvant hormone therapy when appropriate (breast, prostate cancer patients)	Yes/no	Institutional specific baseline
	Standard of care delivered, NCCN guideline adherence	For programs where navigators have clinical knowledge/training	Institutional specific baseline
Health services utilization	Unplanned hospitalizations (preventable; e.g., non-infectious)	For analyses, can adjust for reasons for hospitalization when comparing to a control cohort	Institutional specific baseline.
	ER visits		Institutional specific baseline.
Clinical trial participation	Trial availability	Yes/no	Institutional specific baseline
	Trial participation	Yes/no	Institutional specific baseline.<br>When institutional baseline is not available, rates published in the literature for similar populations can be used for comparison.
	Reason for non-participation if clinical trial if offered/patient eligible	Data can be used for barrier tracking and resolution.
Care coordination	Integration of adjuvant therapies where appropriate	Yes/no	Institutional specific baseline; benchmark goal of 100%.
	Ancillary services recommended/received (e.g., nutrition, social work, physical therapy, etc)	Yes/no	Institutional specific baseline
	Medication and devices prescribed/received	Yes/no	Institutional specific baseline; benchmark goal of 100%.
Clinical outcomes	Stage at presentation		Institutional specific baseline.<br>When institutional baseline is not available, rates published in the literature for similar populations with same cancer subtype can be used for comparison.
	Date of last follow up	Needed for calculation of survival and recurrence outcomes
	Survival data		Institutional specific baseline
	Recurrence data		Institutional specific baseline

^*Institutional specific baseline can be determined from review of records for historical cohort with preference for a cancer subtype, race, and sex-matched cohort whenever possible.