SBIR PHASE II - TOPIC 225 - A SYSTEM TO COORDINATE AND TRACK HOME BASED CHRONIC C

A commercial software platform to facilitate the coordination of home-based cancer care in an open health system will be developed. The long-term goal is to expand the system to coordinate care in complex chronic conditions and across multiple settings. The platform will integrate with a home health device and fit within a hospital's IT infrastructure. User interfaces for patients, providers, and informal caregivers will be redeveloped based on the Phase I study results, and tested through two user studies in the first year. Key issues around ownership of data, medico-legal implications of the system, and privacy assurances will be addressed. The system design will be further informed by resolving practical challenges including how to eliminate communication redundancy and incentivize care coordination. In the second year, the platform will be extended to interact with an electronic health system in use by providers. Another usability study will be performed to drive the final software design. A study of patients using the integrated software platform in their homes, and providers and informal caregivers interacting with it in their normal environments will be conducted. It is expected that this system will improve communication and coordination around common symptoms experienced by patients living with cancer.