PatientCareAnywhere: Patient Support and Empowerment Across the Care Continuum

DESCRIPTIONprovided by applicantComprehensive bio psychosocial screeningwhich covers not only physical symptoms and psychosocial issuesbut also practical concerns such as transportationfinanceswork and childcareoffers the true opportunity to maximize the benefits of medical care and social support to patients and their families while enhancing operational efficiency and resource management for healthcare organizations because of the identification and effective management of the bio psychosocial elements of cancer careThe early identification of patient problems is essential to manage distressprevent crisesminimize system disruptionand reduce the costs of health careThere may be also added benefits related to patientfamily and health care staff satisfaction as a result of enhanced communications and better care coordinationThe overarching goal of PatientCareAnywhere as a patient centered adaptive supportive care system is to improve patient outcomes for cancer patients while reducing healthcare costsPatientCareAnywhere will be a patient empowerment solution to promote internal resilience and self efficacy by creating new partnerships with patients and health care professionals across the care continuumgeographicallyhome hospital community homeandmedicallydiagnosis treatment survivorship deathSuch support will be adaptive to individualandapos s needs and health status based on comprehensive bio psychosocial screening and coordinated across multiple sources in the forms of referralseducationengagement of community resourcesand secure social communicationThis project is based on the partnership between Bright Outcome and City of HopeCOHPatientCareAnywhere will be derived from two existing systemsCOHandapos s Support Screen and Bright Outcomeandapos s MyCaringCirclewhich share the same vision and are complementary in their approachesSupport Screen focuses on supportive care initiated from clinic based encounters and MyCaringCircle is a home community based patient portal solutionTogetherthese two systems can provide comprehensive bio psychosocial screening and supportive care to patients across home to hospital settings and across the continuum of cancer care adaptivelyThis is a Fast Track projectPhase I aims are toCollect input fromstakeholders on expected system featuresperceived usefulness and impactsand potential adoption barriers via focus groupsDesign and develop the prototype PatientCareAnywhere by leveraging support Screen and MyCaringCircle and by adapting the patient education materials from COHConduct two usability tests withsubjects each and a pilot study withsubjectsPhase II aims are toEnhance and refine Phase I prototype based on Phase I evaluation feedback and expand disease stage and treatment modality support coverageandConduct a randomized controlled trial withpatient subjects to confirm our study hypotheses of achieving better patient outcomesbetter self efficacyand more cost effective health service utilization with PatientCareAnywhere as compared to usual care PUBLIC HEALTH RELEVANCEThe prevalence of psychological distress for cancer patients has been estimated to be approximately betweenandEffective bio psychosocial screening integrated with triagereferralspatient and caregiver education and follow uppromotes successful patient centered care across the cancer treatment trajectoryStudies have demonstrated that adequate integration of bio psychosocial screening with the provision of supportive care could result in better patient outcomesbetter patient provider communicationand higher patient satisfactiondetection of unrecognized problemsimproved referralsand better health service utilization lower costDistress screening and management have thus been incorporated into treatment guidelines and accreditation standardsOur goal is thus to develop a patient empowerment solutionPatientCareAnywhereas a patient centered adaptive supportive care system to improve patient outcomes for cancer patients while reducing healthcare costs