Implementing Innovation: Informatics-Based Technologies to Improve Care Delivery and Clinical Research

Abstract

Improving technology has promised to improved health care delivery and the lives of patients. The realized benefits of technology, however, are delayed or less than anticipated. Three recent technology initiatives are reviewed: the Clinical Trials Rapid Activation Consortium (CTRAC), minimal Common Oncology Data Elements (mCODE), and electronic Patient-Reported Outcomes. Each initiative is at a different stage of maturity but promises to improve the delivery of cancer care. CTRAC is an ambitious initiative funded by the National Cancer Institute (NCI) to develop processes across multiple NCI-supported cancer centers to facilitate the development of centralized electronic health record (EHR) treatment plans. Facilitating interoperability of treatment regimens has the potential to improve sharing between centers and decrease the time to begin clinical trials. The mCODE initiative began in 2019 and is currently Standard for Trial Use version 2. This data standard provides an abstraction layer on top of EHR data and has been implemented across more than 60 organizations. Patient-reported outcomes have been shown to improve patient care in numerous studies. Best practices for how to leverage these in an oncology practice continue to evolve. These three examples show how innovative has diffused into practice and evolved cancer care delivery and highlight a movement toward patient-centered data and interoperability.