Table 1.

Examples of how IT could support patient-centered cancer care.

Diagnosis: A patient whose provider suspects cancer orders a diagnostic PET scan. The resulting digital image is captured, annotated, stored, and shared with a provider in a different location for a second opinion, vastly improving the efficiency, effectiveness, and timeliness of care.

Treatment Decisions: Any given patient has a range of values, preferences, needs, communication and learning styles, and cultural considerations. For example, a male patient for whom English is a second language, and whose cultural norms encourage passivity, modesty, and deference around physicians, may be unwilling to voice questions about side effects of different prostate cancer treatment options. In this scenario, the ideal IT system could capture and dynamically monitor the patient’s values and preferences, anticipate possible questions and concerns about urological and sexual functioning, and even produce treatment information in another language, or in one of several alternative formats (e.g., print, DVD, podcast).

Symptom Management: An optimal IT-enabled system for cancer care could aid providers and patients in handling cancer treatment-related side effects if patients could report problems by accessing a web- or telephone-based symptom reporting system that immediately transfers the symptom data into the patient’s EHR. Depending on intensity and duration of the symptoms, the healthcare team could initiate proactive outreach to the patient by secure email or phone, or at the least, review the symptom trajectory during a subsequent visit. The symptom record would be accessible to all of the patient’s providers (primary care, radiation oncology, medical oncology), irrespective of the provider’s practice setting.

EHR, electronic health record; IT, information technology