Author: Mirjana Phillips

OncoLens, a pioneer in tumor board and cancer treatment planning solutions, announced today that it has raised a $7.25 million Series A investment from BIP Capital, Martin Ventures, and SeedToB Capital, a new healthcare artificial intelligence (AI) venture fund launched by former Jvion Co-founders Shantanu Nigam and Ritesh Sharma.

OncoLens brings collaborative and personalized treatment planning to the cancer patient through data integration and decision support. It helps cancer programs and their multidisciplinary teams of specialists collaborate effectively while easily aggregating patient-specific data in a HIPAA-compliant manner across different EMR/clinical/genetics information systems. Patient-specific clinical trials at a facility or its affiliates, NCCN/ASCO guidelines, and the latest research are also automatically identified for each case to support the care team in making the best decision for the patient.

“The new investment round will enable us to further capitalize on our position as a leader in the tumor board and cancer treatment planning software industry,” said Anju Mathew, CEO of OncoLens. “We’re excited to continue our work with BIP Capital and our new investors Martin Ventures and SeedToB Capital. Their combined deep expertise in healthcare and AI will help catalyze both our product development and market expansion efforts.”

OncoLens is being used or implemented across several National Cancer Institute-designated Cancer Centers and some of the largest U.S. healthcare delivery networks. The company has received significant market recognition, with studies showcased in the Association of Community Cancer Centers’ Oncology Journal, Journal of Registry Management, American Society of Clinical Oncology, and others.

“We were an early investor in OncoLens and we’re proud of its rapid growth and commitment to improving healthcare through technology,” said Mark Buffington, co-founder and CEO of BIP Capital and lead investor of its growing portfolio of Healthcare IT investments. “We’re confident OncoLens will increasingly become part of the new norm in terms of how care providers collaborate efficiently and effectively with one another.”

“OncoLens is enabling better outcomes for cancer patients,” said Devin Carty, CEO of Martin Ventures. “The need for new, cutting-edge technologies has never been more important to ultimately winning the fight against cancer. We are excited to partner with Anju and the rest of the OncoLens team to extend and expand clinical trials, precision medicine, and multidisciplinary care to cancer patients.”

“Tumor boards and care collaboration are within a space needing much innovation,” said Shantanu Nigam, managing partner of SeedToB Capital. “OncoLens is stepping up and leading this charge with a very innovative approach under stellar leadership. We’re extremely excited to welcome OncoLens to our portfolio.”

The funding announcement comes during a week when many healthcare investors and innovators are attending the 39th Annual J.P. Morgan Health Care Conference virtually (social media hashtag #JPM21). A focal area of the event is telemedicine and virtual collaboration tools to help healthcare providers better meet the needs of patients in a mobile and digitally connected world.
In 2020, OncoLens was named among the top 10 most innovative companies by the Technology Association of Georgia. OncoLens currently serves more than 8,000 cancer care providers across the country.

About BIP Capital

BIP Capital is recognized as one of the most active venture investors in the Southeast, serving entrepreneurs, investors, and operators to grow the emerging company ecosystem. It applies experience and process to make investment decisions and operational recommendations, allowing its portfolio companies to achieve and stay on a glide path of growth. Areas of focus include Enterprise SaaS, Healthcare IT, Digital Media, Dev Tools, and MarTech. For more information, visit www.bip-capital.com or follow BIP Capital on LinkedIn or Twitter @BIPCapital.

About Martin Ventures

Martin Ventures is a healthcare-focused venture capital firm based in Nashville, Tennessee. Martin Ventures was founded by healthcare operator, investor, and entrepreneur Charlie Martin. Martin Ventures focuses on both building and launching de novo companies and investing time, energy, and capital into world-class entrepreneurs’ leading growth-stage companies. For more information, visit www.martinventures.com.

About SeedToB Capital

SeedToB Capital primarily focuses on artificial intelligence initiatives within healthcare. Most applications of AI in healthcare have results in pilot settings, but fail to scale successfully despite huge investments. SeedToB’s unique approach is to help entrepreneurs navigate this complex space toward the most efficient path to Series B and ultimately, company success. It is led by Ritesh Sharma and Shantanu Nigam, serial entrepreneurs who founded Jvion and quickly grew it to be the nation’s largest clinical AI company.

About OncoLens

OncoLens is a care treatment planning platform designed to help cancer programs collaborate effectively with multidisciplinary teams across their care networks and within the affiliates and communities they serve. Our solutions include virtual tumor board technology, workflow automation, survivorship care planning, and clinical decision support capabilities that lead to increased standardization across the network, higher quality of care, enhanced engagement with affiliates, and reduced costs through greater efficiencies. For more information on OncoLens, please visit www.oncolens.com. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn.

Media Contact:
Kathy Berardi
Carabiner Communications
kberardi@carabinercomms.com
678.644.4122

SOURCE OncoLens
Related Links
http://www.oncolens.com

Greater collaboration on a secure digital platform across 16 locations will improve continuum of care for patients

Detroit, MI and Atlanta, GA – Karmanos Cancer Institute is pleased to announce that it will begin using the OncoLens cancer treatment planning software platform to hold tumor boards and multidisciplinary case discussions. Implementing OncoLens will make it easier for providers to participate in multidisciplinary team discussions through a streamlined and accessible platform where members can review patient cases in real-time and asynchronously. Using this secure platform allows for the consolidation of clinical trial information, electronic medical records (EMR), images, lab results and other information into one environment. Follow up action items are recorded and can be managed through the platform.

Tumor boards are critical to Karmanos’ multidisciplinary approach. These treatment planning sessions allow specialty providers from many disciplines to discuss and plan treatment for patients. Participants include oncologists, radiation oncologists, radiologists, pathologists, surgeons, pharmacists, specialized nurse practitioners, dietitians, social workers and genetic counselors. By holding tumor board meetings, Karmanos offers access to a team of experts without requiring patients to see multiple specialists. Rather, patient cases are discussed in one setting, where each specialist can weigh in, providing the best possible expertise and patient treatment. With 16 locations in the Karmanos network, accessible collaboration is imperative.

Before the implementation of OncoLens, Karmanos held tumor boards in person or via conference call. While this allowed for effective communication, the use of OncoLens will enhance the process and efficiency by integrating EMR and other data to be shared seamlessly in real-time for all to review. Additionally, whether held online or in-person, tumor boards have previously required that all providers attend simultaneously. With the implementation of OncoLens, specialists can offer comments and feedback asynchronously and engage with other team members before or after the meeting.

The OncoLens platform provides clinical decision support to automatically match patients with potential clinical trials that are pulled from the study information portal, based on the specific cancer type and tumor characteristics.

The OncoLens platform enables system-wide treatment planning and standardization of care across a network that is consistent with evidence-based and customized care pathways. It allows peer-to-peer collaboration and instant reporting to provide perspective into testing and treatment recommendations, adherence to quality metrics and improvement opportunities.

“We have learned a great deal about the value and ease that can be facilitated by digital communication platforms during the COVID-19 pandemic. Even before this, Karmanos sought to remove communication barriers between our providers to offer the best cancer care possible to our patients. Thanks to the specialized offerings provided by OncoLens, multidisciplinary teams throughout the entire Karmanos system will be able to collaborate seamlessly and share information, whether they are stepping out of surgery, sitting at a desk or commuting to the clinic,” said Justin Klamerus, M.D., M.M.M., President of the Karmanos Cancer Hospital & Network.

“With OncoLens and Karmanos working together, we will drive increased care coordination among multi-specialty providers in the network and community, leading to better patient care and increased referrals. Each cancer patient’s case will be visualized by their care team and expert physicians at Karmanos, with the relevant clinical, imaging, genomic and other data, irrespective of location or busy schedules and tracked to Karmanos’ high-quality standards. We are excited to work with a partner like Karmanos that shares our mission to bring the best possible care to the patient,” said Anju Mathew, CEO and Co-Founder, OncoLens.

Since its founding, OncoLens has offered a platform that can easily aggregate patient-specific data in a HIPAA-compliant manner across different EMR/clinical/genetics information systems. In addition, patient-specific clinical trials at a facility or its affiliates, NCCN/ASCO guidelines and the latest research are automatically identified for each case to support the care team in making the best decision for the patient. For large healthcare networks and institutions like Karmanos, OncoLens provides an inter-connectivity tool that breaks down the silos of healthcare delivery.

OncoLens serves more than 8,000 cancer care providers across the country today, including those from NCI designated cancer centers, academic institutions, integrated delivery networks (IDN) and community cancer centers.

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About OncoLens

OncoLens is a care treatment planning platform designed specifically to help cancer programs collaborate effectively with multidisciplinary teams across their care networks and within the affiliates and communities they serve. Our solutions include virtual tumor board technology, workflow automation, survivorship care planning, and clinical decision support capabilities that ultimately lead to increased standardization across the network, higher quality of care, enhanced engagement with affiliates, increased referrals, and reduced costs through greater efficiencies. For more information on OncoLens, please visit www.oncolens.com. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn.

About The Barbara Ann Karmanos Cancer Institute
Karmanos Cancer Institute is a leader in transformative cancer care, research and education through courage, commitment, and compassion. Our vision is a world free of cancer. As part of McLaren Health Care, Karmanos is the largest provider of cancer care and research in the state of Michigan. For more than 75 years, our administrative and research headquarters, along with our premier specialty cancer hospital, have been located in downtown Detroit. Our 15 network sites throughout the state deliver market-leading cancer care and clinical trials conveniently to the communities where many of our patients live. Karmanos is recognized by the National Cancer Institute as one of the best cancer centers in the nation. Our academic partnership with the Wayne State University School of Medicine provides the framework for cancer research and education – defining new standards of care and improving survivorship. For more information, call 1-800-KARMANOS (800-527-6266) or visit www.karmanos.org. Follow Karmanos on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and YouTube.

Eric Brown, MD, FACS, discusses how breast oncologists and surgeons have adapted to overcome the challenges presented by COVID-19 and continue to deliver the best care to patients as the United States begins to re-open.

As states begin to reopen amid the novel coronavirus 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, it’s important to consider how to continue to deliver the best care possible for patients with cancer, according to Eric Brown, MD, FACS, especially as operating rooms (ORs) begin accepting patients for essential surgeries of varying priority while preparing for the outbreak’s inevitable second wave of cases.

As of May 2020, Brown, Breast Program Lead in Comprehensive Breast Care, a division of Michigan Healthcare Professionals shared that he and his colleagues are once again performing breast cancer surgeries. However, nonessential or elective procedures, such as breast augmentations, are still not being performed yet.

For those patients with breast cancer who do come in for procedures, strict measures have been put in place to ensure the safety of staff and patients alike. While other hospitals have implemented COVID-19 screenings within 48 hours of a procedure, Brown’s hospital is responding by handling each patient as though they have already tested positive for the virus. To this end, personnel are required to always wear N95 face masks, entrance has been restricted during intubation and extubation, and, perhaps most significantly, family members and companions who would normally be allowed in the pre-operative area and recovery rooms are now being asked to wait at home until contacted by a doctor or nurse.

Determining which patients should receive priority for surgery is also being considered differently than it has been previously. “Many patients, especially with hormone-positive cancers, have been placed on anti-estrogen therapy in the neoadjuvant setting prior to doing any surgery, and those patients will generally have less aggressive types of cancers. As such, in terms of prioritizing, those patients were given at least the option of delaying their surgery a little bit,” said Brown.

Additionally, patients with HER2-positive or triple-negative disease who have finished their neoadjuvant chemotherapy are most likely to be considered top priority with regard to surgery, added Brown.

In an interview with OncLive, Brown discusses how breast oncologists and surgeons have adapted to overcome the challenges presented by COVID-19 and continue to deliver the best care to patients as the United States begins to re-open.

OncLive: How would you describe the COVID-19 situation in Michigan?

Brown: In Michigan, especially southeastern Michigan, we got hit very hard and many of the hospitals were actually above capacity. Many patients from hospital A would actually have to be transferred to hospital B because there just weren’t enough ventilators and support available for them. Fortunately, we’re over that. Our ORs are now open to [perform] essential surgeries. We’re not quite open to nonessential surgeries. In my world, we’re doing breast cancer surgeries, but nobody would come in for, say, a breast augmentation just yet. We have ventilators [not being used by] patients in the hospital now, so hopefully we are on the downside of this tragedy and crisis in Michigan, at least for now.

What are some of the precautionary measures that have been implemented at your institution to protect patients who come in for treatment?

It goes back to having not only capacity from a staffing perspective, but [also] equipment and testing. What we would like, and what some of the societies across the country have recommended, is that all patients who come in for elective surgery be tested [for the virus] within 48 hours. Our hospital doesn’t quite have the capacity to do that yet. To this end, we’re basically treating every patient as though they are positive [for the virus]. In other words, N95 masks are being worn by all the staff; people are out of the room during intubation and extubation; and no families are allowed into the pre-operating area or the recovery room. In fact, what is new is that we’re actually allowing families and companions to wait at home.

This is nothing like we would do prior to the COVID crisis; there had to always be somebody at the hospital. However, I just finished a case and called the husband who was waiting at home, and then the recovery room nurse will call when we’re about ready to discharge. So, that’s all new. Treating patients as though they were positive is probably the smart thing to do, even if you can do testing within 48 hours of procedure.

How are you personally prioritizing patients for pauses in treatment versus delaying surgery in breast cancer?

That has been a big challenge for us and certainly a responsibility that we’ve never really faced before as breast surgical oncologists. Once the doors open again [we have] to decide who can have their surgery and who needs to wait. Oddly enough, I’ve had several patients who were actually a little nervous about [not] coming back to the hospital. As we explained to them when we chose this neoadjuvant approach, that it was safe, we found that they were comfortable sticking with it a little while longer.

Some of the patients who have finished their neoadjuvant chemotherapy during this time are really some of our top priority patients to get into the OR. We don’t really have a lot of data that says you can wait X number of weeks to do their surgery. We typically wait 3-4 weeks post-chemotherapy, so that their blood counts can come back up to normal. However, waiting 6, 8, up to 12 weeks, is a little unnerving. With some of our patients with HER2-positive disease who [reached] the end of their chemotherapy mid-crises, many of our medical oncologists have kept them on HER2-targeted therapy only to bridge this timeframe. Those would be our top priority because we don’t traditionally do that; it’s kind of a little bit more outside of the box. We want to get them in first.

Then, the patients with triple-negative disease who had finished their chemotherapy are also our top priority in terms of getting them into the OR. From there, we look at general clinical features of tumors, gage of tumors that are estrogen-sensitive in patients who have been on neoadjuvant endocrine therapy. Fortunately, the hospital is not allowing many of the surgeries to be done outside of the cancer specialty. As such, we have a lot of times in the OR available for us. [Our institution has also arranged for] the ORs to be open a little longer, so we don’t really have a backlog that [would suggest that] prioritizing is going to be a major issue — waiting a week versus waiting another 3 weeks is about the gist of what that delay is going to look like.

Several institutions and organizations have been releasing guidance to help inform the field during such a challenging time. Are you utilizing any specific resources to inform treatment modifications for your patients or are you basing your decisions on personal experience and the data that are available?

Essentially, [everyone is] kind of winging it. What we’ve done in our group is, we’ve followed the recommendations that have been put out by the American Society of Breast Surgeons and they did that in tandem with the National Comprehensive Cancer Network. To be honest with you, hospitals, as an entity, they don’t really know. Administrators don’t really know. They really rely on the doctors to do that and to find a way to prioritize, in terms of getting surgeries back in the OR. In terms of the treatment that we’ve done along the way, we’ve continued to meet weekly with our multidisciplinary tumor board—we do that virtually. That’s been extraordinarily helpful to keep things going in terms of that multidisciplinary input.

When we choose a neoadjuvant endocrine approach, whether we get genomics on those patients or not, that’s kind of a collaborative discussion amongst our tumor board group. Getting those patients back into surgery becomes more of a surgeon medical oncologist decision based on who [we] deem to have more of an urgent need versus not. The hospital, per se, at least in my experience, has not really gotten involved; they also haven’t gotten in the way either. In Michigan, we did have a time where I had a whole month where I wasn’t doing any surgery; that’s because we weren’t doing any elective or non–life-threatening surgery where someone might die within a day if they don’t undergo the procedure. Most residing in areas with a high volume of COVID-19 have followed that same [approach].

There wasn’t great guidance nationally getting into this and there really hasn’t been that great guidance coming out of it. However, as a general rule, physicians have done a pretty good job of organizing themselves, communicating amongst each other, and really collaborating with the hospitals.

What are some of the personal and even institutional challenges that you find yourself facing recently in light of the pandemic?

The personal challenge is from a breast surgical oncologist perspective. I haven’t been in the intensive care unit in—I can’t remember the last time. I haven’t managed a ventilator in—I can’t even remember the last time. In the midst of this, it really was [difficult] from an emotional standpoint because you felt kind of useless. We’re in a big institution where we have many doctors who volunteered and had experience that they brought to the table. Taking temperatures was basically the only thing we could do, so we kind of felt on the sidelines there, and that’s hard. Most of us have this innate sense of wanting to help and this is the doctor’s [version of] 9/11, if you will; [we] really [wanted to] step up and there wasn’t a lot that we could do. As such, we focused on taking the right care of patients as being our contribution to that [battle]. Personally, I can’t speak for anyone else, but that was a little difficult to grapple with at first. We feel now, that it’s our time to shine, to get people back into the OR, prioritize appropriately, and hopefully, put this behind us.

Speaking more about the toll caused by this crisis, could you speak to the emotional ramifications of the pandemic on providers and patients?

Well, patients, clearly, are scared. Their feeling is that they’ve had bad luck getting diagnosed, and then they get diagnosed at a time when everything is up in the air. Our approach, when we’ve consulted with patients, was to be really honest and say, “We’ve never done this before.” We’ve never had a time that we couldn’t operate, and we had to worry about chemotherapy during a time when infection was even more worrisome then it has been traditionally. On top of which, you want to be healthy, you want to exercise, and you want to eat well. However, you can’t go to the gym, going to the grocery store is a challenge because everybody has got to gear up for that, and, on top of everything, you can’t turn the news on any channel without getting some comment on this. Anyone who checks their email are getting recommendations and suggestions from everywhere. [Messages are] not just [coming from] medical societies, but Target and Meijer gas stations, [are saying] what they are doing about COVID-19.

It’s like you can’t get away from it, so you kind of get exhausted just from that alone. Then, there’s the physicians. We struggle because we don’t want to compromise care. In my world, these women with breast cancer, and some men, are going to have their breast cancer beyond this. We don’t want to lose sight of the fact that we do have a crisis on our hands, but we don’t want to jump too far outside the box. It’s a daily struggle. Then, of course, all of us have families, and if you’re older and you have kids in other parts of the country, you worry about all of them, so this takes its toll on everyone. On the frontlines, as cancers go, you deal with high-level stress every day and you don’t have all the answers now so that’s more stressful for the patients and more stressful for the doctors.

[We] pretty quickly got up and running on a platform called OncoLens, which is a platform for putting together virtual meetings. It was made by an oncologist, so a lot of thought went into this. It was around and being developed prior to [the pandemic] and it really allowed us to collaborate amongst all the doctors.

Looking forward to when people start going back to work or to school, and things start to open back up. Are any conversations happening at your institution or even between you and your colleagues regarding what this might look like? How are you strategizing for this?

We have talked a lot about it, and we’re obviously going to be more prepared the next time, as you would be with any tragedy or crisis. One of the things that our group has talked about is to create a COVID-19–free outpatient center. [We would] have much more strict guidelines to work there and for patients to have procedures done there. Hopefully, it won’t be as bad as this first time through, but maybe then we won’t have to delay surgeries on patients with cancer. In the context of that, maybe not doing elective breast augmentations, but even the symptomatic hernia that the general surgeons are dealing with.

Rather than having to wait and hope, if it’s someone you normally would have operated on sooner rather than later, this might provide them with an opportunity and a place to do that; that’s safer. Obviously, we’ll have more testing available, a [quicker] turnaround, the antibody testing, the ventilators shouldn’t be a problem because everybody is making them now. We should really be ahead of this time, but every time will pose new challenges and things you didn’t think about from the last time, I’m sure.

But again, one of the things we talked about was trying to create this, for lack of a better way to put it, COVID-19–free space that’s outside of the hospital in an outpatient area where some of these patients that we would really rather operate [on] sooner rather than later can get their procedures done.

What is your advice to your colleagues who are trying to navigate all of these challenges?

Cancer, in general, is a multidisciplinary [field]. Anyone, [whether you specialize in cancer of the] breast, colon, what ever, you have to collaborate and talk with your colleagues. Keeping those lines of communication open is certainly key. [We] pretty quickly got up and running on a platform called OncoLens, which is a platform for putting together virtual meetings. It was made by an oncologist, so a lot of thought went into this. It was around and being developed prior to [the pandemic] and it really allowed us to collaborate amongst all the doctors. We could view images, we could view reports, it was an easy way to collaborate and continue doing our multidisciplinary tumor boards on a weekly basis like we had done. The platform really is very robust; its [creators] thought of everything. We’ve actually found that since we’ve started doing the tumor boards virtually, our attendance is higher because people can just be in their office, log in for an hour, and they don’t have to drive to anywhere.

We have typically over 20 people, including plastic surgeons, who are listening in and commenting in the multidisciplinary tumor board and there are other avenues to that. We have collaborated with OncoLens and they were great at getting us up and running very quickly; it has been very seamless and very, very robust. It’s just like nothing has changed except for the fact that we have many more people involved. [In terms] of what others can do, is that patients deserve that multidisciplinary care and the more you can keep that [care] constant, the better. Then, it’s not all falling on 1 person to decide how to navigate the crisis; you’re still working as a team and getting input from everybody. Most people in oncology learn something new with every tumor board they attend; it that allows that to just continue.

In March, the cancer care world changed dramatically. Most cancer centers have lost significant revenue, operate with less staff and have adopted virtual conferences to adhere to social distancing guidelines. All are now faced with an unprecedented backlog of patients that have not been diagnosed or are un/undertreated.

We invite you to learn how OncoLens can help you do more with less and bolster your response to the challenges posed by COVID-19. Please join us for a live webinar discussion and demonstration of the OncoLens Virtual Tumor Board.

Webinar Takeaways

• Flexibility to meet both in-person and remotely
• Easily share crisp pathology and radiology images
• Securely engage referring providers to drive referrals and improve patient care
• Improve Clinical Trials accrual through automated clinical decision support
• Clearly track and report on CMEs and accreditations

Join us for a LIVE demo of the OncoLens Virtual Tumor Board:

• Thursday, July 9, 11-11:30am EST
• Tuesday, July 21, 1-1:30pm EST

Click here to register.

For cancer patients, telemedicine is appropriate for many consultations and follow-up visits.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

• Initial consultations are appropriate via telehealth when cancer patients have nonpalpable findings such as an abnormal mammogram, a breast cancer specialist says.
• In cancer care, best practices for virtual visits include sticking to the pattern of an in-person visit, the specialist says.
• Telemedicine is well-suited for tumor boards—multidisciplinary meetings held regularly to review cancer cases.

The coronavirus pandemic has revealed multiple opportunities to use telehealth in cancer care, a breast cancer specialist says.

Telemedicine provides physician practices with a safe method to interact with patients remotely during the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. Telemedicine also enables physician practices to expand services for patient care such as virtual patient check-in capabilities and remote patient monitoring that collects biometric data.

“We feel it is not safe for patients to come directly to our office, or even to a hospital. In our clinic, we have set up multiple times during the day when we are doing telehealth consultations or follow-up visits. There are a select number of patients who fall very nicely into the category of being able to have their consultation done virtually,” says Eric Brown, MD, breast program director at Michigan Healthcare Professionals in Farmington Hills, Michigan.

The telehealth visits are appropriate for cancer patients who have nonpalpable findings such as an abnormal mammogram, he says. “So, if you did not feel a lump and just had a screening mammogram and ended up getting diagnosed with breast cancer, those patients are appropriate to have their initial consultation done virtually.”

Follow-up visits for cancer patients are well-suited to telehealth, Brown says. “Most of our telehealth visits have been follow-up visits: a check-in to see how things are going or a post-operative visit if the patient has no wound-specific issues. Some of our high-risk patient follow-ups have been done via telehealth.”

All patients who have had virtual consultations also have had office visits, he says. “We did make arrangements for an in-person visit as well because that is an important component of what we do. Given the scenario, we were not able to do a physical exam on patients unless we had them come to the office.”

VIRTUAL VISIT BEST PRACTICES

Brown, who has been practicing for 27 years, says conducting consultations over the phone or via a video chat can be challenging. For example, if there is a loved one with the patient off camera, it can be difficult to “read the room,” he says.

Engaging patients also can be problematic. “A lot of patients don’t know where to look when they are on a video chat, so you are often not looking straight on to them,” Brown says.

The key to telehealth visit success is adapting in-person skills to the virtual environment, he says.

“When it is a cancer consultation, you have to continue to provide the breadth of information that you would have if the patient was seen in the office. It was difficult at first to find my mojo; because when you do consultations in the office, you develop a pattern. You can see whether patients are understanding and engage them in the conversation. … By and large, you stick to the pattern, review the things you want to review, and engage patients in that way.”

VIRTUAL TUMOR BOARD MEETINGS

Brown says telehealth has been particularly useful in conducting tumor boards—multidisciplinary meetings his practice holds weekly to review cancer cases.

“As a group, we realized that meeting in person was risky for us because people were at risk for possible exposure in their offices and the community, or they had been moved to different positions in the hospital where they were subject to getting coronavirus,” Brown says.

His practice adopted the OncoLens platform for tumor boards. “It has been a huge improvement in attendance. Most importantly, it has allowed us to continue the multidisciplinary approach to breast cancer care that patients deserve,” he says.

“Before, we would never have a plastic surgeon—even though they were invited—because they were operating and would not have time to participate. Now, we have had no fewer than four plastic surgeons on every tumor board. The more physicians that can participate, the better it is for the patients. You get more opinions, and everybody brings something to the table.”

With travel time cut out of tumor board meetings, attendance has doubled, Brown says. “Pre-pandemic, we would typically have eight to 12 people participate in the weekly tumor board. With the virtual platform, we have had no fewer than 20 and as many as 26 people participate.”

The virtual platform has drawn plastic surgeons to the tumor board meetings, he says.

“Before, we would never have a plastic surgeon—even though they were invited—because they were operating and would not have time to participate. Now, we have had no fewer than four plastic surgeons on every tumor board. The more physicians that can participate, the better it is for the patients. You get more opinions, and everybody brings something to the table.”

Christopher Cheney is the senior clinical care? editor at HealthLeaders.

Best of Breed SaaS-based tumor board platform selected from Top 40 Innovative Tech Companies competition and asked to present at The Summit – the state’s largest tech showcase – in March

ATLANTA (PRWEB) FEBRUARY 24, 2020

OncoLens is pleased to announce it has been named one of the Top 10 Innovative Technology Companies in Georgia by the Technology Association of Georgia (TAG).

Oncology focused, OncoLens is a SaaS-based tumor board platform to help cancer centers connect members of their care teams, as they make treatment decisions for their patients. Centers can increase their referrals and streamline workflows. They can also reduce tumor board prep time by 90% and time to initiate patient treatment from 14 to 2 days.

“OncoLens utilizes some of the latest technologies in conjunction with its own proprietary algorithms to identify treatment options for the cancer patient,” said Anju Mathew, Co-Founder and CEO, OncoLens. “The platform identifies clinical trials, evidence-based guidelines and personalized treatment options based on the tumor genotype. These options are proposed to the multi-disciplinary cancer care team to help them make the best decision possible for the cancer patient.”

Better patient outcomes can result from OncoLens’ robust functionality. Cancer care teams can engage research staff early and automatically screen cases available for clinical trials. Physicians are able to access real time data for clinical decision-making, while the system works in the background to facilitate data/document collection, including EMR clinical data, laboratory and molecular genetics test results and radiology images. The platform also supports regulatory reporting for associations such as the Commission on Cancer (CoC), NAPBC and NAPRC.

The Top 10 were selected from TAG’s Top 40 Innovative Technology Companies competition for showing the highest degree of innovation, the broadest scope and financial impact of their innovations, and the greatest effect of such innovation in promoting Georgia’s technology industry throughout the U.S. and globally.

As a Top 10 honoree, OncoLens will present at The Summit, hosted by TAG, March 3-4, at Cobb Galleria, in Atlanta. It is Georgia’s largest technology showcase. “We look forward to sharing the future of innovative cancer care at TAG’s event,” said Mathew.

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About OncoLens
OncoLens develops technologies that improve cancer treatment planning, simplify tumor board management, facilitate survivorship care planning, and automate accreditations and quality reporting through an intelligent workflow engine that streamlines business processes and enables more informed clinical decision-making. For more information, visit http://www.oncolens.com.