McKesson Corp. has announced a collaboration with a company called Navigating Cancer to offer an enhanced patient relationship management (PRM) platform to community-based oncologists.
The clinical workflow tool for oncology teams and patients helps providers meet value-based care requirements through features such as patient care management tools, remote monitoring to capture patient-reported outcomes, and a nurse triage tool that includes symptom management pathways.
By coordinating tasks that prompt patient involvement, this platform allows physicians and practice staff to focus on caring for patients. Using Navigating Cancer’s PRM platform, providers are notified of patient-reported outcomes and can triage and provide proactive care in real time. Patients, in turn, have access to personalized information 24/7, have a way to report side effects before they escalate, can receive medication reminders, and have the opportunity to play a more proactive role in their own care.
Coupled with existing McKesson solutions such as the oncology-specific iKnowMed electronic health record (EHR) as well as practice transformation support and education for programs such as the Merit-based Incentive Program and Oncology Care Model, Navigating Cancer’s PRM will help oncology practices in their efforts to achieve value-based care, McKesson said.
Navigating Cancer has been offering patient relationship management software for cancer care since 2008. Navigating Cancer’s oncology-specific software can help care teams stay connected to each other and their patients, improve productivity with streamlined workflows, and, ultimately, provide better care. “Navigating Cancer’s PRM platform aims to increase access to care and improve care coordination with the goal of improving patient outcomes and decreasing emergency room visits. We have seen this at Rocky Mountain Cancer Centers, Virginia Oncology Associates and Minnesota Oncology, all current iKnowMed customers,” said Gena Cook, founder and president of Navigating Cancer, in a prepared statement.
In February, Navigating Cancer cited a study published in the Journal of Oncology Practice that quantified the savings of two mid-sized community cancer providers that use its PRM platform for standardized telephone triage with integrated symptom management pathways.
The authors of the study analyzed over 10,000 triage incidents documented at The Center for Cancer and Blood Disorders (CCBD) in Fort Worth, Texas, and Northwest Medical Specialties (NWMS) in Tacoma, Wash., to isolate incidents that were related to symptom management. Those incidents were then further reviewed to identify the instances where triage nurse management and intervention prevented ER events.
The study period spanned six months where the authors identified a 6% to 7% reduction in ER events due to symptom management using standardized pathways. They estimated that the annual number of avoided ER events due to triage was 426. That amounts to a savings of $3.85 million for the two practices.
