The City of Hope Alpha Clinic: A roadmap for equitable and inclusive access to regenerative medicine therapies for all Californians

We have proposed a phased expansion in our Alpha Clinic, initially delivering stem cell and regenerative medicine therapies in satellite clinics and, eventually, in outlying communities. First, we invest in community integration and education, working with key stakeholders and placing patient navigators in community settings. To this end, we have hired a patient navigator who is helping educate patients and providers at our community satellite centers. We are excited at the recent CMS determination permitting reimbursement of patient navigation services, and look forward to leveraging that reimbursement to make these efforts even more robust. Additionally, we are organizing Community Advisory Boards to help understand how we can be most helpful to the communities we serve. Second, we provide resource and logistical support for patients and families while creating the infrastructure required to treat them closer to home. We are excited that the CIRM Patient Assistance Program is coming on line soon, and look forward to offering this to our patients. We are also working with our satellite sites to bring innovative trials to patients in those locations. Third, we provide comprehensive training and support for a regenerative medicine workforce based in the community. Working closely with our sister institutions, we have developed a field-leading Nursing Education program to be held in April, 2024. Finally, we continue our groundbreaking work on developing and translating exciting new therapies to the clinic. In this reporting period, COH Alpha Clinics is supporting COH clinical trial operations office, Cell and Gene Therapy Center, and Laboratory for Cellular Medicine to accelerate clinical trials, provide process development, regulatory and GMP manufacturing for City of Hope investigator-initiated and industry-sponsored trials. There are 58 cell and gene therapy trials currently open to accrual at City of Hope, due in large part to the support of the Alpha Clinic.