OREANDA-NEWS. October 02, 2015. PCCI, a non-profit research and development corporation specializing in real-time predictive healthcare analytics, and The US Oncology Network, one of the nation’s largest networks of integrated, community-based oncology practices dedicated to advancing high-quality, evidence-based cancer care, have entered into an agreement to develop two oncology solutions that will run on PCCI’s Pieces™ software platform.

“Our hope is that this work will lead to improvement of quality of life for lung and pancreatic cancer patients and their families as well as have a measurable impact on improving care and avoiding hospitalizations,” states Ruben Amarasingham, MD, MBA, president and CEO of PCCI.

The oncology solutions, architected by PCCI data scientists, will be developed for two cancer types: Stage IIIb/IV Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer (NSCLC) and Stage IV Pancreatic Cancer, chosen because of their high relative rates of hospitalization. PCCI developers in collaboration with The US Oncology Network will use the data to construct software to help physicians make better, faster and more informed decisions on a patient’s treatment.

The ultimate goal is to identify high-risk individuals and assess the utility of interventions that decrease the frequency of undesired outcomes such as emergency department visits, hospitalizations and readmissions. Physicians at high volume sites within Texas Oncology, a practice in The US Oncology Network, will review the results, and program success will be measured by comparing the data output against a validation cohort.

“We are very excited to work with PCCI to build and test these models,” said Marcus Neubauer, MD, medical director of Oncology Services for McKesson Specialty Health and The US Oncology Network. “Cancer treatment is associated with side effects, and some patients get much sicker than others. We hope to better assess a patient’s risk for illness and deterioration prior to initiating treatment. This way, cancer patients can receive treatment and feel better and be more productive along the way.”

This unique collaboration also represents a platform expansion into oncology for PCCI, and a multi-party collaborative that includes data contributions from other hospital organizations. Says Amarasingham, “with program success, PCCI hopes to help further The US Oncology Network as the leader in the movement towards patient-centered and value-based care in oncology.”

About The US Oncology Network

The US Oncology Network is one of the nation’s largest networks of integrated, community-based oncology practices dedicated to advancing high-quality, evidence-based cancer care. A physician-led organization, The US Oncology Network unites like-minded physicians and clinicians around a common vision of improving patient outcomes and quality of life. Leveraging healthcare information technology, shared best practices, evidence-based guidelines and quality measurements, physicians within The US Oncology Network are pioneering new ways to achieve this vision. The US Oncology Network is committed to strengthening patient access to integrated care in local communities across the nation, including collaboration with a variety of payers, hospitals and academic institutions. The US Oncology Network is supported by McKesson Specialty Health, a division of McKesson Corporation focused on empowering a vibrant and sustainable community patient care delivery system. For more information, visit www.usoncology.com.