CancerLinQ and the Future of Cancer Care

Abstract

Patients, health care providers, and payers all have a similar interest in a health care system that is both efficient and intelligent. The attributes of such a system are widely recognized: we want a system that provides widespread access to consistently high-quality, science-based medical care; we want that system to be efficient, avoiding unnecessary waste, while delivering the right treatments to the right patients in a timely fashion; we want a system that allows us to both learn from our experience and generate new knowledge that will inform future treatment options; and we want a system that is compassionate and caring. What we want from a health care system often runs up against real-life obstacles and challenges: a fragmented delivery system, varying levels (or lack of) insurance, a growing burden of regulation and paperwork, and an increasingly complex understanding of tumor biology and the therapeutic approaches derived from this biology. New challenges are on the horizon—emerging genomic and imaging technology, with their enormous cognitive and data burdens, and a looming demographic challenge, where inadequate personnel resources face an aging population and an explosion of new treatments. Not all problems have technologic solutions, but many of the issues described above have potential solutions related to information technology. ASCO's CancerLinQ, described in this article, is an evolving attempt by the Society to improve the quality and efficiency of cancer care, while supporting education and research in the cancer field.