ASCO is applauding new Institute of Medicine (IOM) recommendations for establishing a “learning health system” in the United States, and is calling upon other medical specialties to join in achieving this vision of high-quality, high-value medical care. ASCO’s recently launched multiphased rapid-learning initiative, CancerLinQ, aims to achieve the IOM’s core recommendations for the field of oncology.
The recent IOM report, “Best Care at Lower Cost: The Path to Continuously Learning Health Care in America,” describes a rapid learning system that will use real-time knowledge to improve outcomes, engage patients and family members, create a new culture of care, and form a continuous cycle of learning and improvement. The report makes 10 recommendations for developing the rapid learning system in health care. Through its work on CancerLinQ, ASCO is already working to address seven of these recommendations.
Rapid Learning System
When complete, CancerLinQ will have the ability to assemble and analyze millions of unconnected medical records from cancer patients in a central knowledge base, which will grow “smarter” over time. This rapid learning system will harness technological advances to connect oncology practices; measure quality and performance; obtain new insights from the vast pool of “real-world” data on cancer care; and provide physicians with decision support in real time. In developing CancerLinQ, ASCO is addressing the new IOM recommendations by:
- Developing a prototype for breast cancer to determine and overcome the technological barriers in improving the capacity to capture clinical data;
- Seeking data use agreements with oncology practices and other organizations to input deidentified patient records into the prototype;
- Utilizing a limited set of ASCO’s and other clinical practice guidelines in the prototype to demonstrate evidence-based clinical decision support and quality measurement;
- Developing a vision for integrating ASCO’s Quality Oncology Practice Initiative, which measures and promotes improved physician/patient communication and coordinated health services, into the future development of CancerLinQ.
The CancerLinQ prototype will be shared at ASCO’s inaugural Quality Care Symposium, taking place November 30 to December 1, 2012, at the Manchester Grand Hyatt in San Diego.
For more information, go to: www.asco.org/CancerLinQ. ■
© 2012. American Society of Clinical Oncology. All Rights Reserved.
