As one of the fastest growing health systems in Georgia, WellStar Health System offers patients a comprehensive network of hospitals (11), urgent care centers (15), and satellite imaging centers (16), plus nursing, hospice, and other healthcare facilities. The organization prides itself on adopting the latest innovations and delivering world-class patient care to the communities it services. Its cancer centers are no exception.
With 13 different recurring cancer conferences across the health system and a rapidly growing patient population, Leigh Webb, WellStar’s Cancer Data Quality and Accreditation Manager, found the amount of manual work involved in managing the tumor board conferences and accreditation reports overwhelming. She knew it was time to rethink the way the health system prepared for and conducted its multi-specialty conferences. That’s when she turned to OncoLens.
“We decided to deploy OncoLens in two of our centers that had the highest volume of cases. Our goal was to create a better experience for our physicians and care team members by streamlining the manual work required for tumor board conferences,” said Webb. “We also wanted to find a better way to minimize the volume of emails and phone calls that often came in during last minute preparations for our conference, and to facilitate more productive conferences. Our physicians and their assistants have found it to be so much easier because they are able to quickly enter the case directly into the application. Our administrative team is able to generate the necessary reports for accreditation instantly vs. having to enter mountains of data at the end of the year.”
The whole process is much more streamlined, and we are able to focus on the patient, not the paperwork
Out with the Old
Prior to implementing OncoLens, the WellStar team of physicians, oncologists, radiologists and others were dependent on emails and calls to schedule cases and gather the necessary patient information. The registrar team was constantly monitoring the email box and voicemail system to watch for case information. Plus, registrars spent days entering information into reports that had to be submitted to maintain Commission on Cancer (COC) accreditation. Everyone had to sift through thick binders of case information during the sessions.
With OncoLens, the system automatically schedules the conferences and notifies each participant of what information is needed and what has been submitted. Information can be easily uploaded into a centralized place that all participants can access anywhere, any time. As the conference occurs, smart forms are populated with the necessary data that creates a record of the conference and ensures the session supports the health system’s accreditation goals. The necessary reports can be generated with the click of a button.
According to Webb, “One of the best things about using the OncoLens platform to manage our tumor board conferences and accreditation efforts is the fact that everything sits in one place. Everyone knows exactly what needs to be done by when. They can easily upload their slides, and we don’t have to create PowerPoint presentations for every case. The whole process is much more streamlined, and we are able to focus on the patient, not the paperwork.”
By guiding the conferences along and making sure the appropriate clinical and operational processes are followed to be in compliance with accreditation requirements, Webb identified the opportunity to leverage the reports in OncoLens to pursue the new guidelines for accreditation under the National Accreditation Program for Rectal Cancer (NAPRC). NAPRC was developed through a collaboration of The OSTRiCh Consortium (Optimizing the Surgical Treatment of Rectal Cancer) and the CoC. With the goal of ensuring patients with rectal cancer receive appropriate care using a multi-disciplinary approach, it is more intense than its predecessor, National Accreditation Program for Breast Cancer (NAPBC). The requirements have a stronger emphasis on clinical data capture and multiple rounds of discussions at various stages along the treatment plan. The complexities are greater, and therefore can be perceived to be harder to manage.
“We worked closely with the OncoLens team to take the NAPRC guidelines and build business logic and reporting capabilities into the system that allows us to more easily follow the recommended steps and capture the clinical information we need to pursue NAPRC accreditation. Reports that used to take us days to prepare now can be done in minutes by clicking a button in OncoLens” added Webb.
Some of the added benefits that Webb and her team are starting to realize with the solution include the presentation of relevant clinical trials that the system generates based on the case type and makes available with the touch of a button during conferences.
White-Glove Customer Support
Having great technology isn’t always enough though. Technology must be backed by a strong customer support team. According to Webb, working with the OncoLens team has been great. “The OncoLens team was amazing, from the first interaction with the co-founders, Anju Mathew and Dr. Lijo Simpson, to the day-to-day customer success team, led by Ebony Johnson. They are very interactive and act on our suggestions, and they are proactive in being sure we have everything we need to successfully roll out the solution across our centers. You just can’t put a value on that,” she added.
The Future Looks Bright for WellStar
Under the constant pressure of providing high quality patient service and aligning with value-based care reimbursement models, WellStar is constantly looking for ways to improve efficiencies and deliver high quality care to their patients. With rectal cancer being one of the fastest growing types of cancer, achieving NAPRC accreditation across its facilities is a top priority. The organization wants to ensure the communities it serves know that they can come to WellStar and receive the highest quality care possible.
As the health system continues its strong track record of growth across the state of Georgia, Webb and her team expect to continue to benefit from the product plans OncoLens has in place. “We look forward to a long and highly productive partnership with the OncoLens team.”
About WellStar Health System
WellStar Health System, the largest health system in Georgia, is known nationally for its innovative care models, focused on improving quality and access to healthcare. Staying ahead of the curve in technology has enabled WellStar to be leaders in both the diagnosis and treatment of an extensive array of health conditions. Serving a diverse population, WellStar consistently looks at total patient wellness and works to ensure that all systems support that focus. WellStar is recognized nationally as an Employer of Choice and is featured on FORTUNE 100 Best Companies to Work For® list and Work Mother Magazine’s Best Companies list.
About OncoLens
OncoLens develops technologies that improve cancer treatment planning, simplify Tumor Board management, facilitate survivorship care planning, and automate accreditation and quality reporting through an intelligent workflow engine that streamlines business processes and enables more informed clinical decision-making. To learn more about OncoLens, please visit www.OncoLens.com
WellStar Health System at a Glance
- Main Offices: 805 Sandy Plains Road, Marietta, Georgia 30066
- Employees: 20,000+
- 11 hospitals, 15 urgent care centers
- 16 satellite diagnostic imaging centers
- 3 health parks, 1 pediatric center
- 1 adult congregate living facility
- 3 inpatient hospices, 3 skilled nursing facilities
- 225 medical office locations
How it Works
OncoLens uses an intuitive, rules-based engine that intelligently automates workflows to simplify and organize the cancer treatment planning process, helping cancer centers:
- coordinate and conduct Tumor Board conferences
- automatically create survivorship care plans and identify eligible patients
- capture accreditation data and quality metrics during conferences
- identify case-specific research and clinical opportunities
OncoLens removes many operational barriers, enabling cancer centers to discuss two to five more cases per Tumor Board; and facilitating a whole new level of collaboration, allowing more experts the opportunity to contribute their ideas. Most importantly, it gives patients the opportunity to receive the best possible care plan.
For more information, visit oncolens.com
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