CPC + CBEx 2024: CancerX Updates

In a session at the 2024 Clinical Pathways Congress + Cancer Care Business Exchange, experts discussed the latest initiatives from CancerX, a public-private partnership announced by the White House to advance technological innovation in the fight against cancer. The organization’s goals are to reduce preventable cancer deaths by 50% and improve the experience of patients and their caregivers.

“CancerX has 180 members and draws its strength from the diversity of its members,” said Sarah Sheehan, MPA, CancerX at Digital Medicine Society (DiMe). Its main areas of focus are equity and access and cost of care in the cancer space—issues that also hurt clinical outcomes for patients with cancer.

Shruti Iyer, MS, Oracle Life Sciences, shared statistics regarding financial hardships these patients face. She stated that cancer patients are 2.5 times more likely to face bankruptcy for their care. In the first year after diagnosis, 85% of patients end up leaving the work force. Also, they are likely to spend their life savings during their second year with the disease. “Oracle felt compelled to join this initiative because of its massive impact,” said Iyer.

As part of attaining its goals, CancerX is working with 24 of their partners to collect data from community organizations on how they work with patients on navigation and what resources are provided to them, including whether they systemically provide patients access to clinical trials. In addition, the organization has launched digital innovation projects to standardize workflow and get patients access to the resources needed to address their social needs.

These projects include the Principal Illness Navigation (PIN) pathways and Digitally Enabled Patient Navigation Blueprint (Blueprint). According to the CancerX website, patient navigators and health information technologists can “adapt existing electronic health record (EHR) platforms and develop EHR-enabled workflows to fit their patient navigation needs.” It can also help health care stakeholders make their case for digital innovation in their practices.

The organization also released open-source resources in November 2023, including the Digital Navigation Return on Investment (ROI) Calculator in partnership with the Huntsman Cancer Institute. The calculator “enables health system leadership to determine the ROI of investment in digital patient navigation solutions to reduce financial toxicity,” said Sheehan.

Oracle Health Oncology, a partner of CancerX, has also developed a navigation tool called a Nurse Navigator Worklist for nurse navigators. “Oncology navigators offer individualized assistance to patients, families, and caregivers in overcoming health care system barriers and facilitating timely and quality access to care throughout the cancer journey,” said Iyer. With this tool, users can see all the patients assigned to a navigator and get a snapshot of where each patient is in their treatment journey, allowing the navigator to review and take actions that are needed. Practices that have access to Oracle also have access to this resource.

What is in store for the future of CancerX? Panel moderator Mansai Kapoor, MBA, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, noted that CancerX has been working with organizations on case studies on how they are using these resources in practice. In addition, CancerX is launching a pilot program that is focused on the role of patient navigators and getting patients access to clinical trials, while remaining on their treatment protocol. The organization encourages cross-collaboration and wants different stakeholders to get involved in the initiative, including biotech startups.

Reference

Sheehan S, Iyer S, Kapoor M. CancerX update. Presented at the Clinical Pathways Congress; September 6, 2024; Boston, MA.