CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Advocate Health’s Illinois and Wisconsin divisions have been approved for funding by the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI) to implement electronic monitoring of patients’ self-reported symptoms during cancer treatment.
Patients undergoing treatment for cancer often experience distressing symptoms such as fatigue, pain and nausea. Effectively managing these symptoms, whether related to the disease or its treatment, is a key component of high-quality cancer care. Improved symptom monitoring can enhance patients’ well-being, reduce hospital visits and support better treatment adherence.
The project is led by Debra O’Connor, D.O., vice president of specialty engagement and value initiatives at Advocate Health, and Ameer Gomberawalla, M.D., a breast surgical oncologist with Advocate Health Care.
This initiative will be rolled out to all patients diagnosed with cancer and receiving treatment at any Advocate Health Care or Aurora Health Care site.
“This PCORI funding allows us to put patients’ voices at the center of cancer care in a more immediate and meaningful way,” O’Connor said. “This work strengthens our commitment to delivering high value, patient-centered cancer care grounded in evidence and informed by the people we serve."
This project will implement findings from PCORI-funded patient-centered comparative clinical effectiveness research (CER) demonstrating improved symptom control, physical function and health-related quality of life among patients who completed electronic patient-reported outcome surveys compared with those who received usual care.
Advocate Health is a participant in PCORI’s Health Systems Implementation Initiative (HSII) and was selected for funding through a PCORI funding opportunity supporting HSII participants in advancing evidence-based practice.
HSII aims to help close the estimated 17-year gap between when research findings are published and when they are applied in clinical care. This initiative recognizes that health systems’ practical experience and real-world insights are crucial for sustainable, large-scale implementation of practice-changing findings in clinical care.
“This PCORI funding award will support Advocate Health in meaningful improvements in symptoms and health-related quality of life for people undergoing cancer treatment,” said PCORI Executive Director Nakela L. Cook, M.D., M.P.H. “This project exemplifies PCORI's commitment to make the results of patient-centered CER more accessible and usable in real-world settings, helping patients, caregivers and the broader health care community make better-informed health care decisions and improve outcomes. We look forward to following the project’s progress.”
This funding award to Advocate Health has been approved pending completion of PCORI’s business and programmatic review and issuance of a formal award contract.
Pending final approval, implementation of this new initiative will begin this fall.
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