Here is a number that has been hard to sit with: only 1 in 5 of the people who come through our clinic access the services that provide the greatest improvements in cancer-related fatigue.

It is not because people do not want to. It is not because the services do not work, we have outcomes data showing they do. It is because the treatments that drive the strongest, most lasting gains in cancer-related fatigue sit outside OHIP coverage. And once people have already navigated treatment, straining their energy and their finances, the care with the strongest evidence in addressing fatigue is the care most people cannot access.

That gap, between what works and what is affordable, is the problem we set out to close.

Why we changed our approach

We could have offered a discount. We could have added a payment plan. But over time, we came to realize the challenge was greater than cost alone.

The evidence is clear on what works for cancer-related fatigue: integrated, sustained care delivered over months, not single sessions. Physician-led counselling paired with structured rehabilitation, delivered consistently enough for the benefits to last. That is what produces real, measurable improvement. Unfortunately, until now, the treatment options for most people relied on either high-priced private pay services with each session costing $120-$160 /session (for expert-led counselling and rehabilitation; $1,200 to $1,600 per month for 10 sessions) OR being forced to rely on free, but generic, community wellness and coaching programs that may produce disappointing results.

So we restructured how the care is delivered.

How the new care services work (in broad strokes)

We knew we needed to do something differently. So we expanded our OHIP-covered care and reinforced it with a smaller number of additional support services, delivered with the quality of high-cost services but within a healthcare equity cost model (a fancy way of saying priced to be within most peoples’ monthly budgets).

The Integrated Fatigue Care (IFC) Model is the foundation. Every participant completes two OHIP-covered physician counselling sessions paired with Cancer Fatigue Services-covered weekly supervised rehabilitation sessions, at no cost. That is the minimum starting dose of fatigue care for most people. We view this as the starting point, with opportunities for additional support when appropriate.

The Equal Care Contribution (ECC) Program is intended to help people recover further and faster by bringing the ‘ideal’ treatment dose within reach for most. How do we achieve this? We achieve this by everyone working together, as a community, to ensure that no one gets left behind. Until OHIP starts paying for what people need, we are committed to building a fatigue care community, building bridges from the care people need to what they can reasonably afford. For a small monthly contribution, we can provide additional medical-quality rehabilitation, cardiopulmonary exercise test (CPET) interpretations, and rehabilitation prescription updates at substantial cost savings for everyone. For example, through the ECC program we can reduce the cost of supervised rehabilitation to just $15 a session, compared to direct pay rates ($100-$160 for one-on-one care or $50-$75 for group-based care). I know that I am throwing a ton of numbers at you, but it is important that people can see how hard we are working to level the financial playing field so we can help as many people as possible. The contribution supports the reduced rates available through the program, for the person enrolling and for the wider community of patients facing similar fatigue challenges.

What makes this approach different

It is not simply a discount program. It is not insurance. It is a care model designed around the principle that no one should be priced out of feeling better, and a community contribution structure that lets us deliver what the evidence supports, at a price that does not lock out four out of five of the people who need it. The two parts were designed to support one another.

One more thing

We are soft-launching this program this month. The version we are launching now is not the version we will be running a year from now, and that is by design. Your experience, your honest feedback, and your willingness to tell us what is working and what is not, allows us to refine and improve the program over time. We are committed to evolving this based on what actually helps the people in it.

If you are considering participating, know someone who may need this type of support, or would like to learn more about how the program works, you can email our team directly at info@cancerfatigueservices.com.

Because recovery shouldn’t depend on means.

— The Cancer Fatigue Services Team