Cancer Council Victoria scales financial counseling for more patients with Azure AI

Paul caught his bowel cancer early with an at-home screening kit and has enjoyed three cancer-free years—and counting—with his wife and kids. After her dad was diagnosed with cancer, Claire got much-needed support from a volunteer who had also juggled work and caring for a loved one. And Cheryl survived advanced pancreatic cancer, a disease whose five-year survival rate has nearly doubled in the last 15 years. "I’ve still got so much living to do. And I’m not wasting a second,” Cheryl says.

Each of these individuals has been helped by the advocacy, research, and direct assistance of Australia’s Cancer Council Victoria. For 90 years, the independent nonprofit has supported people with cancer, their loved ones, and healthcare providers. The nonprofit helps patients and their families navigate complex care systems from treatment to remission or palliative care, along with the attending challenges, such as the cost of living while undergoing treatment.

While many people call Cancer Council Victoria’s free support line in search of treatment information and an empathetic listening ear, those asking for help navigating the financial fallout of a diagnosis increased 48% in just one year. A third of all calls now request practical advice to handle hurdles like pausing mortgage payments, understanding insurance coverage, and affording uncovered expenses such as travel to the hospital. To meet this need, the nonprofit aimed to grow its financial support program without ballooning the budget.

“As cancer incidence continues to increase, we must ensure we are reaching more people, and those who have the greatest need,” explains Danielle Spence, Head of Strategy and Support at Cancer Council Victoria. “AI is helping us with resource sustainability. It assists us to provide information and support to large numbers of people and guide them with personalized support.”

Cancer Council Victoria built an AI-powered solution to empower financial counselors to find answers quickly, personalize follow-ups, and scale to help more callers. The solution is built on Microsoft Foundry, a comprehensive suite of ready-to-use and customizable models, APIs, and more. The pre-built components sped the development of the AI solution, readying it for testing, user acceptance, and rollout. Financial counselors are now using the solution on a preliminary basis, with wider use planned later this year.

“As demand increases, we've got to find ways of meeting that demand, and we can’t just hire more and more people. That is where AI and other tech comes in,” explains Mike Osborne, CIO at Cancer Council Victoria. “AI solutions empower our nurses and counselors to help more people, because when one in two people will be affected by cancer, a lot of people need our help.”

Connecting cancer patients to accurate information

A cancer diagnosis typically jump-starts a journey to learn as much as possible about the disease, treatments, and next steps. Unfortunately, finding accurate information amid the sea of questionable content on the internet can be another overwhelming task on the to-do list. “People want to be empowered to find evidence-based information,” Spence says. “With Microsoft, we are guiding people through accurate information, helping people make choices, and offering one-on-one care.”

Through an Azure OpenAI in Foundry Models generative AI model, the financial counseling solution quickly surfaces reliable information directly relevant for each individual support line caller. Financial counselors prompt the solution with a caller’s details, such as the name of their mortgage lender. The AI solution then searches Cancer Council Victoria’s closed and validated knowledge bank, a vast curated library with content from internal procedural manuals, insurance companies, Australia’s welfare agency, and more.

Using Azure OpenAI in Foundry Models, the solution generates answers grounded in this information, complete with links to source materials. “Our tool is not exposed to anything we haven’t validated and had peer-reviewed so we only share information that is accurate and high-quality,” Osborne says.

Financial counselors can input a caller’s insurance policy documentation into the AI solution. The tool can instantly parse this dense and sometimes confusing resource into clear, concise guidance in everyday language. Staff can also direct the AI solution to generate summaries of relevant information that they then send in a follow-up email. A succinct resource enables callers to refer to a “digest” of the conversation, learn more, and share the information with loved ones.

The expediency of Cancer Council Victoria’s new AI tool will help patients address financial burdens faster. Spence says, “It’s very time consuming to figure out what you may or may not be eligible for. Now people dealing with the complexities that accompany a diagnosis don’t have to wait for information to be sent.”

The solution’s search and answer generation takes mere moments, allowing financial counselors to provide actionable answers to callers in real time. They can also share source links with callers and look through the web pages and translate unfamiliar terms together.

“Chronic illness is disempowering, particularly for people who aren’t health literate or financially literate,” Spence says. “We’re giving people the ability to advocate for themselves.”

Scaling reach to help more people

Cancer Council Victoria estimates that new cancer diagnoses will increase by between 31-48% over the next 15 years. The nonprofit is committed to serving this surge, “yet it’s challenging to keep growing people resources,” Spence says.

Cancer Council Victoria employs just one full-time financial counselor, who works alongside several part-time counselors. Delegating the search for information among the fine print, as well as generating client-facing content, will save financial counselors untold hours of work. Alleviating this heavy lift frees up financial counselors to focus on providing the personal, caring interactions that cancer patients deserve.

"This tool will streamline the way we support clients," says Chelsea Hughes, Head of Supportive Care Programs at Cancer Council Victoria. “The time we save will allow us to focus on more complex assessments and provide deeper, more personalized support for people facing financial stress during their cancer journey.”

Australia is a deeply multicultural country, home to groups Cancer Council Victoria has identified as priority populations. The Azure-based solution is helping staff connect with Aboriginal, Torres Strait Islander, LGBTQ, and other underserved demographics. “It’s resource-intensive to ensure we work with these groups and meet their needs,” Spence says. “These new tools are going to allow us to reach the populations we don’t traditionally reach.”

Efficiencies gained through technology empower financial counselors to do only what humans can—compassionately spending time and finding solutions for people going through harrowing health journeys. Osborne says, “This tool means financial counselors do far less of the drudgery of filling out forms and searching websites, and far more time directly engaging with people who need help.”

Protecting client data and peace of mind

People who come to Cancer Council Victoria are often reeling from a life-changing diagnosis. “They shouldn’t have to worry about a data breach on top of that. It’s very important that we don’t let that happen,” Osborne says.

Microsoft security protections empower the nonprofit to safeguard organizational and client data. All Microsoft platforms within Cancer Council Victoria’s infrastructure work together, providing a comprehensive and easy-to-manage defense against bad actors. “One of the reasons we went down the path of Microsoft Foundry is because we can wrap them into our enterprise security framework,” Osborne says.

The vast majority of the organization’s operations and infrastructure lie within Microsoft products, making it easy to cover with Microsoft Defender. The unified security suite prevents attacks, monitors devices and identities, and pinpoints ways to make both its cloud environment and user practices more secure. In addition, Cancer Council Victoria uses Microsoft Purview to manage its data governance, risk, and compliance.

Customizable controls within Azure also help protect client privacy. Built-in guardrails prevent and block problematic inputs and generated content to create a safe environment for users and callers alike. Data encryption in transit and at rest through Azure secures organizational and sensitive data, while the nonprofit safeguards secrets and passwords through Azure Key Vault.

Additionally, settings within the new Azure AI-based tool de-identify AI-generated content. For example, if a financial counselor directs the solution to draft a letter, the content does not include the person’s name. While the nonprofit keeps logs of call-in conversations, its new AI tool scrubs names, treatment plans, and other personal information.

Innovating for future client care

Cancer Council Victoria has noticed that the funding landscape in Australia is tightening, posing a challenge to future programs. “Funders want to sustain pilot programs beyond the initial funding. Opportunities like these AI tools show we can do that,” says Todd Harper, CEO of Cancer Council Victoria.

Developing infrastructure such as AI-powered tools makes the nonprofit more sustainable, Spence says. “It shows that pilot funding will live longer than just an initial period. It shows we can increase reach with long-term sustainability.” The nonprofit plans to create even more accessible, person-centered technology as it receives this funding.

While financial counselors are currently testing and using the Azure AI tool, the nonprofit is planning on releasing it to the public by the end of 2026. A self-service version will enable people to quickly find answers on their own time. This capability may appeal to younger generations, who prefer texting versus calling, and those who need guidance outside of business hours.

Cancer Council Victoria is also exploring tone personalization via the tool. They anticipate being able to direct the solution to adjust generated content for a client’s literacy level or age, for example. They also hope to use AI to translate documents and further their goals of equitable service for diverse populations.

Ultimately, the nonprofit hopes to deploy a suite of these AI assistants. “We envision having a single infrastructure in Azure where we can spin off different use cases,” Osborne says. “We’ll be able to build out solutions over time as we attract funding.” For example, Cancer Council Victoria has created a beta version of an AI solution that will help support line nurses provide reliable information about virtually any diagnosis and treatment plan. They are also developing a version that will help youth quit vaping.

Cancer Council Victoria hopes that providing timely, reliable, and compassionate information will enable people to focus on what really matters. “When you’re given a diagnosis, there’s a fog when you wonder, what just happened?” Osborne says. “AI is enhancing our ability to be the trusted, person-centered place to help explain jargon and find answers. We’re arming people with personalized information so they can get the best outcomes for themselves.”

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