bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Optimizing patient scheduling for ambulatory chemotherapy.
Authors: de Mendonca Ben , Wield Kirsty , Boudreau Angela , Singh Simron , Cheung Matthew C. , Palmer Sherrol 
Published: February 2017

199 Background: The Odette Cancer Centre (OCC) manages more than 24,000 chemotherapy visits annually. The delivery process is complex and patients have significant wait times for treatment. The OCC was faced with improving this process with no data infrastructure to support continuous quality improvement. Methods: An electronic scheduling manager, Chemotherapy Appointment Reservation Manager (CHARM) was built in house to improve scheduling logic and optimize bed and chair utilization. The chemotherapy unit has recently undergone renovations to change the staff-to-patient ratio and chair distribution. At baseline, a nurse is assigned to 4 chairs in a “pod” without adjustment for patient and chemotherapy intensity variation. An interprofessional team participated in a Kaizen event to create a Value Stream Map of the scheduling process. Scheduling logic considerations were identified to better match nursing and chair resources to patient appointment times. An analysis was performed to evaluate the distribution of patients throughout the chemotherapy unit by time of day, and day of week to identify opportunities to align the schedule with nursing and pharmacy resources. Results: The mean number of patients seen per day was 85 with a range of 65 to 105. 80% of patients are scheduled before 11:30 (the unit operations 08:30 to 18:00). The mean number of patients assigned to a pod was 8 with a range of 3 to 15. Unit performance on days of >95 patients was observed to be poorest. Load levelling techniques were established to reduce the range of patients booked per day throughout the week. New considerations for scheduling are: maximum 12 patients per nurse per pod per day, maximum 3 new patients per nurse per pod per day, maximum 10 clinical trials per day, and maximum 50% of patients scheduled before 11:30 per day. Conclusions: Matching the patient schedule to the nursing and pharmacy resources of the unit is critical to efficient and safe chemotherapy delivery. A Plan-Do-Study-Act is scheduled for September 2013 to implement the scheduling changes and evaluate the impact of the new logic on unit operations. Further work to improve the delivery process and pharmacy medication processing is ongoing.
Implementation of chemotherapy treatment plans (CTP) in a large comprehensive cancer center (CCC): The key roles of infrastructure and data sharing.
Authors: Bryar Julie M. , Dalby Carole Kathleen , Anastas Susan , Brady Lauren , Hassett Michael J. , Shulman Lawrence N. , Jacobson Joseph O. 
Published: February 2017

20 Background: ASCO recommends that prior to initiating chemotherapy, a synoptic CTP should be created. At a large CCC, there was no tool to consistently or clearly communicate chemotherapy plans within the electronic health record (EHR). Methods: In 2011, a structured tool was created in the EHR to document patient diagnosis, tumor characteristics, planned regimen, side effects, performance status, and other elements when starting a new chemotherapy. Completion of a CTP generates a synoptic note in the EHR, pre-populates a chemotherapy consent form and computerized chemotherapy ordering template, helping to integrate CTPs into normal workflow and removing steps for possible errors. Completed CTPs can be accessed by care team members and sent to external referring providers. Implementation strategy included education on the importance of and how to complete CTPs and sending monthly compliance reports to disease centers (DC) and regional sites (RS). Compliance was defined as number completed CTPs / number new chemotherapy starts. Results: The CTP tool was introduced in a staggered rollout in mid-2011 (compliance reporting began in 2012). Six DC and 3 RS presently complete and use CTPs. 3,569 CTPs were completed since 2012. The table shows compliance by quarter, demonstrating significant variation among DC and RS. We attribute increased compliance to introduction of formal feedback reports that allow for identification of high-volume providers not completing CTPs, triggering individual interventions, especially targeted re-education. We also suspect shared reporting led to competition among providers, further improving performance. No incentives were provided for CTP completion. Conclusions: By creating a tool within the existing workflow and providing formal feedback, CTPs have been implemented as a communication tool at a CCC. [Table: see text]
Dissemination, implementation, and quality improvement research within the HMO Cancer Research Network.
Authors: Mittman Brian S. , Dearing James W. , Mazor Kathleen , Nutter James ,   CRN Communication and Dissemination Scientific Working Group
Published: February 2017

215 Background: The HMO Cancer Research Network, funded by the National Cancer Institute, provides infrastructure support to facilitate cancer research in non-profit integrated healthcare delivery systems. A key CRN goal to improve quality and outcomes through research and research-based methods for accelerating implementation of innovations in cancer care. Methods: The CRN is led by a Steering Committee and an Executive Committee. CRN Scientific Working Groups support activity within distinct areas; the CRN Communication and Dissemination Scientific Working Group (C&D SWG) supports the design, conduct and reporting of research on (1) communication and decision makin in cancer care and (2) dissemination and implementation of cancer research findings and best practices. C&D SWG activities include monthly calls presenting C&D research resources, project ideas and funding opportunities; individual consultation and technical assistance to support CRN researchers developing funding applications and conducting research in relevant areas; and mentorship for CRN Scholars. General CRN resources to facilitate research to improve cancer care quality include a multi-institution Virtual Data Warehouse with accompanying query tools to facilitate preparatory-to-research and collaborative research studies and specific cancer-related data items; funding for Developmental and Pilot Studies; and an Outreach and External Collaborations Core to facilitate research collaborations among (a) CRN institution-based scientists, (b) scientists at other institutions, and (c) clinical and operations partners. Results: The CRN C&D SWG continues to stimulate increased awareness and interest in conducting dissemination and implementation studies and quality improvement research in cancer care, and to support the development of new project ideas and funding applications and the successful completion and publication of such studies. Conclusions: CRN activities facilitate innovative multi-site, multi-disciplinary cancer studies in the integrated delivery system setting, and motivate continued evolution of CRN institutions as the nation's premier learning health care systems. Supported by U24 CA171524.
Adult survivors of childhood cancer: Development of a regional transistions program.
Authors: Klemp Jennifer R. , Stegenga Kristin A. , McClellan Wendy , Krebill Hope , Ryan Robin , Sharma Mukta , Panicker Jyoti , Fulbright Joy M. , Lowry Becky , Nelson Eve-Lynn 
Published: February 2017

217 Background: With increased survival rates, adult survivors of childhood cancers (ASCC) face lifelong screening and healthcare needs. Given increasing costs and demands across healthcare institutions, there is a significant need for survivorship models that emphasize regional collaboration, transition of pediatric patients to adult care, and focus on survivor-centered outcomes. Specific aims: Over the last two years, the presenters developed and implemented a survivor-centered regional approach to meet ASCC needs, addressing system, provider, and survivor barriers to successful transition and ongoing ASCC care. Methods: The presenters will describe community engagement strategies utilized to build a successful, sustainable survivor-centered approach across the region. The Midwest Cancer Alliance (MCA), the outreach arm of University of Kansas Cancer Center (KUCC), provides a supportive, neutral environment to bridge institution-specific concerns. Interdisciplinary teams from Children’s Mercy Hospital and University of Kansas’ Pediatrics department developed a formal working group with KUCC adult-focused partners. The group has taken an inclusive approach, bringing together pediatric and adult healthcare teams as well as expertise in outreach, patient navigation, telemedicine, education, and evaluation/research. Emphasis will be placed on how the team has prioritized needs-driven deliverables across metropolitan and rural communities. Results: The transitions program has maintained monthly working group meetings; completed a survivor needs assessment and disseminated findings; and initiated a cross-institutional transitions clinic. The team is collaborating on a comprehensive survivorship training approach to educate regional healthcare providers. The presenters will describe the team’s performance improvement processes to monitor outcomes and continuously refine the ASCC/AYA model. Conclusions: Community engagement is an ideal platform for regional program development to meet ASCC survivor needs. Future steps include measuring program outcomes, working toward EHR integration, increasing survivor input, and incorporating education into residency/fellowship training.
Use of the electronic medical record (EMR) to identify women at increased risk for hereditary breast and ovarian cancer (HBOC).
Authors: Kershberg Hilary B. , Alvarado Monica , Natoli Jaime L. , Parkhurst Emily , Zhou Hui , Tiller George E. 
Published: February 2017

236 Background: Diagnosis of breast cancer at a young age is an indication for genetic counseling and possible BRCA testing. However, not all women with this early diagnosis are referred for genetic counseling, especially if they do not have a family history of breast or ovarian cancer. Methods: The genetics department in Kaiser Permanente Southern California (KPSC) provides clinical genetic services in an integrated health care system serving over 3.6 million members. Using data from the KPSC tumor registry, the KPSC EMR system, and a departmental cancer test results database, we identified 454 women diagnosed with early breast cancer (<46 years) between September 2005 and September 2010 who had not received genetic counseling. We contacted these women with a letter and/or phone call offering a genetics consultation, and we offered BRCA testing to all those who came for counseling. Results: 142 women (31%) came in for genetic counseling, and 312 women (69%) declined, did not keep their appointment, or never responded. Hispanics were more likely to schedule and keep an appointment than Caucasians (OR=1.35, 95% CI, 0.79-2.31), although this was not statistically significant. Of those who came in for counseling, African Americans were significantly less likely to accept genetic testing than Caucasians (OR=0.31, 95% CI, 0.10-0.98).Of the 142 patients who were counseled, 122 (86%) accepted testing. We identified 6 patients (5%) who were positive for a deleterious BRCA mutation and 6 patients (5%) who had a variant of uncertain significance. Of the 6 women with deleterious mutations, only 1 had a first-degree relative with breast or ovarian cancer, and 4 had mutation probabilities <10%. Conclusions: This project demonstrates how an integrated care approach and EMR system provide an opportunity to identify and contact women who are at increased risk for inherited cancer susceptibility.
Lessons learned from the development of the CancerLinQ prototype: Clinical decision support.
Authors: Schilsky Richard L. , Swain Sandra M. , Hauser Robert , Mann Joshua , Sledge George W. , Yu Peter Paul , Lichter Allen S. , Hudis Clifford 
Published: February 2017

237 Background: CancerLinQ (CLQ) is a rapid learning system (RLS) for oncology in development by ASCO. CLQ is based on the transfer of electronic health records (EHR) from participating oncology practices to a data warehouse where data aggregation and de-identification occurs. A prototype was built using open source software and has collected de-identified data on 170,000+ pts with breast cancer (BC) from 31 community oncology practices using 4 different EHRs. The primary goals for the prototype were 1. Aggregate patient data from any EHR platform, process it and create a longitudinal record; 2. Develop quality reports from EHRs; 3. Point of care Clinical Decision Support (CDS) from ASCO guidelines; 4. Data visualization for hypothesis generation; 5. Demonstrate desire to share data for quality improvement; 6. Describe lessons learned (LL). This report focuses on LL about CDS. Methods: Physician experts identified specific elements from each ASCO BC guideline to make machine readable (MR). Abstractors then GEM-cut the elements using the GEM Abstraction Manual and Style Guide. The output reports were reviewed for comprehensiveness, accuracy, and style. Following verification of the GEM-cut content, reports were sent for meta-tagging, done by selecting widely used EHR vocabulary from the Unified Medical Language System (UMLS). The GEM-cut output and meta-tags were converted to DROOLS syntax and the resulting coded files were inserted into the DROOLS rules engine. When the rules engine encounters a combination of facts that match a rule, that rule is presented to the user. The enduring responses are collected using ‘queries’ and the CDS results are delivered to the EHR. Results: Guidelines are often not written as “if”/“then” statements which is key for computer-based CDS. Any unintentional ambiguity must be removed for machine MR CDS. Using new methodologies, we have been able to convert narrative guidelines into MR CDS. Conclusions: Conversion of ASCO’s clinical guidelines into a MR format is possible. New and emerging methods such as GLIDES, BRIDGE-Wiz, and GEM-cutting provide excellent tools to migrate existing narrative recommendations into MR format that can populate CDS tools, such as those provided by CancerLinQ.
eOutcomes-H&N: Development of an electronic point-of-care outcomes collection system for head and neck cancer.
Authors: Lockhart Elizabeth , Gutierrez Eric , Warde Padraig Richard , Dubeau Davin , Huang Sophie , Johnson Harry , Melamed Saul , Sarsfield Lisa , Sioson Roehl , Sutcliffe Ken , O'Sullivan Brian 
Published: February 2017

247 Background: Outcomes data increases the ability to understand the impact of cancer treatment and helps ensure that we direct appropriate investments to achieve improvements in quality of care. Cancer Care Ontario (CCO) has developed an outcomes data collection system for patients with head and neck cancer treated with radiotherapy. Methods: Clinicians involved in the care of these patients agreed on 5 key clinical outcomes to collect as a part of this initiative: local failure, regional failure, distant metastasis, second primaries, and treatment toxicity. Based on the Princess Margaret Hospital Head and Neck Cancer Anthology of Outcomes process, CCO has developed a similar system to collect outcomes data at the point-of-care on a provincial scale. The population-based provincial system aims to provide practice efficiencies and allow for evolution of the system in response to user feedback and expansion to other clinical areas. Results: The system includes a secure web application and iPad mobile application to facilitate the collection and management of outcomes data for head and neck cancer patients treated with radiotherapy in Ontario. Cancer centres upload patient clinic schedule details (including patient identifiers and appointment dates) prior to clinics. A list of patient summaries, including corresponding diagnosis, radiotherapy information and previously recorded outcomes is then generated. In clinic, physicians use these lists to capture outcomes noted at the point-of-care. Data captured are then transferred in real time to a secure central database. Following initial testing, the application was piloted to assess usability, system reliability, and overall satisfaction. Initial results show high physician satisfaction and no documented issues with system availability. Feedback has identified potential improvements and will inform future modifications. Conclusions: The identification of potential variation in recurrence, toxicity and survival data will inform the areas in which quality improvement initiatives or additional investments may be needed. The intent is to leverage project learnings for future outcomes initiatives in other diseases and treatment modalities.
Trends in chemotherapy-related treatment of advanced-stage colorectal (CRC) cancer.
Authors: Bradley Cathy , Yabroff K. Robin , Warren Joan L. , Chawla Neetu , Zeruto Christopher , Lamont Elizabeth B. 
Published: February 2017

258 Background: New drugs and technology are primary drivers of health care costs, but their marginal benefit is questionable, particularly in patients with incurable cancer. We examined trends in population-based treatment following diagnosis for metastatic colon and rectal cancer in elderly adults. Methods: We used the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) – Medicare linked database to identify persons aged 65 and older diagnosed with distant stage colon (N=16,086) and rectal cancer (N=4,003) between 2000 and 2009. For each year, we report the percent of patients who received cancer directed surgery, chemotherapy, antiemetics/premedications related to the chemotherapy, and hematopoietic growth factors, and the mean cost of care. All estimates are adjusted for patient characteristics, SEER region, survival, and year of diagnosis. Results: The percent of patients who had cancer directed surgery declined 12 and 11 percentage points for colon and rectal cancer patients, respectively. The percent of patients who received chemotherapy increased from 41% to 46% for colon patients and from 52% to 57% for rectal patients. Chemotherapy treatment intensified from 2000 to 2009, with longer duration in chemotherapy and more agents given. Over a third of colon and rectal cancer patients received three or more agents in 2009, often including oxaliplatin and/or bevacizumab. The percent of patients who received hematopoietic growth factors rose appreciably from 4% to 19% for colon patients and from 6% to 21% for rectal patients. Antiemetics/premedication use increased approximately 20 percentage points for all patients. Total costs of care rose from a mean of $61,171 to $74,567 per colon patient and from $68,213 to $82,031 per rectal patient. The percentage of costs due to hospitalizations declined for colon (56% to 47%) and rectal (47% to 40%) cancer patients. Conclusions: The use and intensity of chemotherapy, along with cost of care, for patients with advanced cancer increased markedly from 2000 to 2009. The inclusion of newer more expensive agents shifted the bulk of treatment costs from hospitalizations to the outpatient setting. The value of these treatments for advanced stage elderly patients is unknown.
Trends in patient copays for hospital and office-based chemotherapy 2005-2012 for Medicare and commercially insured patients.
Authors: Foley Kathleen A. , Bechhold Rebecca 
Published: February 2017

260 Background: With the growing shift towards chemotherapy administration in outpatient hospital settings (OHS) versus office-based settings (OBS), we sought to characterize the percent of patients with a copay and the mean copayment by setting and insurance type over time. Methods: Using the MarketScan Research Databases, first administrations of bevacizumab and trastuzumab were identified from 1/1/2005 through 12/31/2012 for patients with commercial or employer-sponsored supplemental Medicare insurance. Bevacizumab claims were excluded if the claim had a diagnosis related to macular degeneration or other eye disease. All claims were identified in OHS, OBS, or other setting. Results: The percent of patients with a copayment varied by insurer and setting but within each group remained fairly consistent over time. The average percent with a copay was 14% OHS and 19% OBS for commercial and 17% OHS and 28% OBS for Medicare patients. Per administration copayment amounts varied over time, with peaks of $978 OHS and $631 OBS for commercial in 2012 and $721 OHS and $464 OBS in 2011 for Medicare with 2012 Medicare copayments declining somewhat for bevacizumab. For herceptin peak mean copayments were $886 and $439 in 2012 for OHS and OBS commercial patients, respectively, and $458 and $474 in 2010 with declines in 2011 and 2012 for Medicare, respectively. Commercial patients receiving care in OHS settings consistently faced copayments that were 50 to 100% higher those paid by patients receiving chemotherapy in OBS. Copayment differentials were smaller for Medicare patients. Conclusions: As more patients are receiving care in OHS, these data imply significant financial burdens on patients, especially for those with commercial health insurance. Additional research is necessary to understand the overall cost burden on patients and whether the shift to OHS-based care has negatively impacted patient adherence or quality of life due to financial burden. [Table: see text]
The cost of adverse events in metastatic breast cancer in taxane- and capecitabine-based regimens.
Authors: Masaquel Anthony , Hansen Ryan N. , Ramsey Scott David , Lalla Deepa , Brammer Melissa , Hurvitz Sara A. , Sullivan Sean D. 
Published: February 2017

261 Background: Over 155,000 women are living with metastatic breast cancer (mBC) in the US. Chemotherapies can prolong survival for women with mBC, but adverse events (AEs) stemming from their use are common and costly to manage. We compared the healthcare costs for taxane- (TAX) and capecitabine-based (CAP) treatments for mBCpatients as either first- or second-line (FL or SL) therapy in the US. Methods: Using the Marketscan Commercial Database, a nationally representative database of over 52 million people, we selected mBC patients diagnosed from 2008-2011. Patients were categorized into FL and SL chemotherapy including either a TAX (paclitaxel or docetaxel) or CAP using an algorithm based on pharmacy and medical claims data. Chemotherapy-related AEs were identified by ICD-9 codes. Costs were tabulated from a payer perspective. Average monthly costs were stratified by treatment and the presence/absence of AEs. Results: Among 15,535 mBCpatients we identified 15,472 FL and 6,809 SL cases treated with TAX or CAP. The mean age of patients was 51 years (SD 8). At least one AE was experienced during FL treatment by 74% (SD 44%) and 68% (SD 46%) of TAX and CAP users and during SL treatment 60% (SD 49%) and 59% (SD 49%), respectively. Average monthly total costs during the FL period were $2,385 higher (p <0.0001) and $1,679 higher (p=0.28) for TAX- and CAP-treated patients who experienced at least one AE. In SL, costs for patients with at least one AE had were $2,995 (p<0.0001) higher for TAX-treated patients and $4,870 (p=0.0026) higher for CAP-treated patients. Conclusions: Among community-treated patients, AEs are common in women with mBC receiving TAX- and CAP-based chemotherapy regimens. These AEs are associated with higher costs in FL and SL. When possible, prevention or earlier management of AEs may represent an opportunity to reduce costs and improve outcomes for women with mBC. [Table: see text]