June 21, 2021 | by Yitzchak David
Bridging the communication gap between patients, providers, and drug makers—a rift that often impedes care—is the mission of Cancer Insights, an emerging digital health company. The firm has developed a next-gen algorithmic engagement tool that uses real–time feedback and artificial intelligence to pull a patient’s medical records from participating institutions, highlight disease–specific characteristics, and track a patient’s disease progression so providers can identify key aspects required for comprehensive care.
The resulting real–time feedback creates an easy–to–follow timeline from the patient’s diagnosis all the way to the present treatment plan and current medical status. The user-friendly interface can be seen by both providers and patients to keep the entire care team up to date.
Personal Experience Exposed a Need
Founding President and CEO of Cancer Insights, Tarun Kumar, participated in an Innovator’s Showcase at HITLAB’s Future of Virtual Firsts Symposium. Mr. Kumar has pushed to find new ways to reengage care delivery by providing, “quality information and insights that tether potential advances for everyone in the oncology community,” which he notes on the company’s website at cancerinsights.com.
Driven by personal experience with a family member who had cancer, Mr. Kumar observed that patients are lacking active engagement with their care providers. For providers, the lack of engagement stemmed from siloed data, such as a patient’s medical records being housed at a different institution, as well as lack of communication between providers. As a result, most medical appointments become fact-finding missions during which providers spends most of their time trying to piece together a patient’s medical narrative. As Mr. Kumar pointed out, these inefficiencies—siloed data and lack of communication—often lead to a patient’s becoming disenfranchised and not participating in their care.
Cancer Insights seeks to provide "quality information and insights that tether potential advances for everyone in the oncology community"
Streamlined Access to Clinical Trials
Cancer Insights also uses the platform’s streamlined workflow to match patients with potential clinical trials and its sponsors. By highlighting disease–specific characteristics, and codifying trials specifics, the platform seeks to provide a patient–specific listing of trials, for which patients with similar conditions and backgrounds have a high success rate for enrollment. With all of this digital interaction, Mr. Kumar hopes that providers will experience fewer inefficiencies in coordinating care, patients will be more engaged, and timelines for drug development may move quicker.
An Enhancement, Not a Replacement
Looking forward, the consensus amongst the panel remained optimistic when considering the contribution of digital services in mental and behavioral health. However, technology in its current form would not be able to replace in-person care. Rather, it serves as a method for an in-person and digital hybrid delivery model for patients, providers, and payers.
About the Author
Yitzchak David is a Research Nurse and health tech enthusiast with interests in biotechnology and digital health. Yitzchak has a Masters in Health Policy and Management from New York Medical College as well as undergraduate degrees in Political Science from Rutgers University and in Nursing from Farleigh Dickinson University.
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