Cancer doesn’t care where your employees live–but we do.

This map should make you mad

If you’ve got employees in rural zip codes, this data is a wake-up call: 

• 432 rural hospitals are vulnerable to closure
• 424 have eliminated chemotherapy services
• 60%+ of Health Professional Shortage Areas (HPSAs) are in rural America

The question isn’t if your workforce is affected–it’s how badly.

Cancer care hasn’t kept up–especially in rural America

Cancer care is one of the last areas in medicine still largely built around in-person access. And for rural employees, that’s a problem. 

Traditional benefits–prevention programs, navigation, even virtual care–often aren’t designed with cancer’s complexity in mind. They don’t account for what happens when care can’t come to you. 

Cancer magnifies every rural access challenge. Here’s how: 

1. Later detection and diagnosis: No local screening means later-stage diagnoses, which are hard–and more expensive–to treat
2. Delayed or missed care during treatment: Rural patients are 2x more likely to miss treatment appointments due to travel, leading to worse outcomes
3. No access to survivorship care: Only seven NCI-designated cancer centers offer dedicated survivorship clinics, leaving long-term care out of reach for most 

The current care care system isn’t working for rural communities. It’s time for a benefits strategy that meets people where they are, not where we wish they lived. 

What to do when “in-network” is out of reach

If the “network” is two hours away, it may as well not exist. But here’s the good news: The tools to close rural cancer gaps already exist–at every phase of the journey.

The real question is: Are you making use of them? 

Technology available today can deliver:

• Guidelines-based cancer screenings available from home–no travel, no delays
• Always-on telehealth with oncology specialists because symptoms don’t follow a schedule
• Proactive symptom management during treatment to catch issues before they become emergencies
• Virtual survivorship care delivered with the same quality you’d find at top cancer centers
• Online peer support groups to reduce isolation and support long-term engagement

These aren’t future-state ideas. They’re working today. And yes, Color brings them all together. 

How Color shows up when hospitals can’t

Our Virtual Cancer Clinic isn’t a nice-to-have–it’s a must-have when care deserts and long drives stand in the way of screenings, treatment, and survival: 

• Home screenings turn “maybe later” into “right now”
• Cancer Copilot puts oncology expertise in motion early, helping inform care plans and reduce time to treatment
• A care team that’s ready when your employees need answers 24/7, not just navigation, but real support in real time
• Support for transportation, lodging, and financial challenges because employees in rural ZIP codes often face significantly higher out-of-pocket costs just to access care

Bottom line: If your cancer benefit isn’t reaching every employee, it’s not working

Delays in care don’t just cost dollars–they cost time your employees can’t get back. You can’t control geography. But you can control what cancer care looks like when they need it most. 

Reach out at learnmore@color.com to chat with our team about offering the Virtual Cancer Clinic to your employees.