Why Bag It For Healthcare Providers?
Learn about giving your cancer patients the most respected and comprehensive resource for patient education. The Bag It Bag includes publications and customizable tools designed to ensure your patients have access to current, credible information as well as tools to help them navigate their cancer.
We believe that patient education, along with support for their caregivers and advocates, leads to better outcomes.
For Your Patients
According to our research, the Bag It resources.
- Give patients a better understanding of their cancer and how to monitor/manage symptoms and side-effects
- Educate and empower patients and caregivers to ask better questions and become active members of their own caregiver team.
- Help patients organize their personal information and records in one place for easy reference and transport to their various appointments
For Your Practice
Our healthcare provider partners have distributed the Bag It Bag to tens of thousands of patients to-date. Our surveys show that the Bag It Bag:
- Helps you meet OCM and COC guidelines and requirements
- Improves patient adherence to treatment
- Simplifies the process of identifying and compiling the many resources of value to patients
- Saves your practice the time and the costs of acquiring, printing, and compiling updated resources for your patients
%
Found the Bag It Bag Useful
%
Found My Companion Guidebook Useful
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Found the resources help them cope
Number of Bags Distributed
Customize the Bag It Bag for Your Practice
The My Companion Guidebook is designed so that practices can customize the materials in a number of ways:
- Co-brand the materials with your own organization’s logo and key contact information
- Customize the information in the guidebook with additional resources targeted to each patient with cancer-specific information and treatment plans
- Incorporate additional materials that your practice likes to provide to patients
Interested in more information on how to customize the materials for your practice? Call Joyce Palasek at (520) 348-3310 or email her at joyce@bagitcancer.org
Make the Most of Your Bag It Bag – A Training Guide for Providers
Re-Orders for Current Bag It Healthcare Providers
New Healthcare Provider Orders
You can order a single sample bag, or order in boxes of 6. Once you place your order, you’ll receive a unique provider number that you can use for your future orders.
Ordering Bag It Bags for Your Practice
Thank you for providing the valuable Bag It bag to your oncology patients and their families. We are excited to have our new, updated materials for 2019, as well as our new look!
We want to encourage your patients to use the materials and resources in the bag, as well as take advantage of our online Bag It Resource Center, where we’ve provided links to the materials in the bag, as well as links to other credible cancer resource websites.
There are 6 bags in a box. Order what you need, when you need it, to ensure you maintain an inventory. Patients often report never receiving a bag if one is not available to give them on the initial visit. Bag It bags are most frequently distributed at the time of diagnosis, but the information and resources are applicable at any stage of a patient’s treatment.
Ordering can be done as-needed, or you can set up an automatic order (weekly, monthly, bimonthly, or quarterly) order for delivery.
First-Time Orders
Thank you for your interest in the Bag It bag! Once you’ve placed your initial order, Bag It will generate a unique number for your practice, which can be used to simplify the process for future orders. Be sure to check out the Tips on how to share Bag It materials with your patients.
Quick Start Guide
Tips on How to Incorporate Bag It Into Your Practice
Use this Quick Start Guide [PDF] for tips on when and how to distribute the Bag It bag to your patients.
FAQs for Healthcare Providers
How do I explain a Bag It bag to patients?
A doctor, navigator, nurse, or other trained designee should sit down with the patient to review the materials as soon as possible after diagnosis. It takes about three minutes to review the contents of the guidebook and the booklets.
Is the Spanish bag identical to the English bag?
Yes.
How many bags come in a box?
There are six bags in a box (English or Spanish).
How do I order bags?
You can order via our online form. Bag It bags come in boxes of 6 and can be ordered in both English and Spanish. New providers will receive a unique account number once you’ve placed your first order, which will streamline future ordering. In order to maintain an inventory, orders for your practice can be automated to be auto-fulfilled weekly, monthly, bimonthly, or quarterly.
For questions or more information about ordering for your practice, you can also contact Joyce Palasek, via email or by calling (520) 348-3310.
How can my office/organization make a donation to Bag It?
Please call us at 520-575-9602 to talk about a sponsorship. You can also make a donation.
How can I order knitted chemo caps for our office?
When placing your online order you can indicate on the form that you would like chemo caps. Alternatively, you can let us know by emailing orders@bagitcancer.org and we will include them with your next delivery. (During the months of September through April)
Does every patient receive a Bag It bag?
As part of their routine initial visit, present the Bag It bag to each patient—early stage, advanced cancer, all cancer types, all treatments (including oral/hormonal), and those with recurrent cancer who did not receive a bag previously. Bag It bags were not meant for selective distribution. The information and resources included assist patients at the critical time of diagnosis and throughout the stages of survivorship. If a patient is not ready to use the bag right away, please give it to a family member/friend/caregiver who is accompanying them. They can pass it on to the patient when they are ready and/or use the bag to assist the patient and to help themselves.
As a medical provider, can I add my own materials to the bag?
Yes! Section 4 of the guidebook, entitled “From My Healthcare Team,” is a designated place for you to personalize each bag for your patient before you give it to them. Here, you add pertinent details of their cancer type and diagnosis, reports, cancer-specific information, treatment plan, your practice information, and other additional resources. You can also include details about support services and programs that are offered by your organization or in the local community, such as support groups, complementary/integrative therapies, assistance programs, and more.
We do ask that you maintain the integrity of the bag as provided to you by Bag It, and that you do not remove any Bag It identification or otherwise represent it as your organization’s resource without our prior approval. If you are interested in co-branding opportunities or other customization options, we’d be happy to talk with you.
In which languages is the Bag It bag available?
The Bag It bag is available in English and Spanish.
Tell Us What You Think
Patient Survey
Encourage your patients to complete our Patient survey at any time after they have used a Bag It Bag. There is one in the back of each guidebook, or they can complete it online, in either English or Spanish.
Healthcare Provider Survey
Your feedback is invaluable. We closely monitor the feedback from our healthcare provider partners and use that information to evaluate and update the resources we provide. Please take this very brief survey, and let us know about the Bag It Bag.