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Digital Health Done Right is a Redox Blog Series that shines a light on a member of our interoperable network. We believe in what our partners are doing and want to share their stories and outcomes with you. Cancer is one of the leading causes of death around the world, and The National Cancer Institute provides some illuminating numbers on it’s projected growth: they estimate that the number of new cancer diagnoses will rise from 14 million to 22 million within the next two decades and that nearly 40% of men and women will develop cancer in their lives. In terms of the cost of cancer, they project that the national expenditure for cancer care could rise from $125 billion (in 2010) to $156 billion by 2020.

While these numbers are rather disheartening, one hopeful statistic stood out: cancer survivorship is projected to rise from 14.5 million to 19 million by 2024. This increase speaks to medical advancements in oncology diagnosis, care, and survivorship plans, all of which help give patients a better shot at battling cancer as early and effectively as possible. While the above numbers show how important cancer care is, Oncology is an incredibly specialized vertical in healthcare whose patient experience is difficult to meaningfully improve. This is because the people most familiar with the oncological patient experience are the very doctors providing care, and application developers can face difficulty persuading oncologists to help build out a technology platform; doing so often means diverting time away from patients, and many doctors aren’t willing to do that.

This scarcity of talent and time makes developing oncology software particularly challenging. Such a specialized field requires thorough research and development in order to deliver meaningful tools to patients and providers, and for this reason, we’re committed to partnering with companies who’ve proved it’s possible.

Meet Carevive

Carevive is a Philadelphia-based company whose mission revolves around improving the quality of life and survival rate for cancer patients while lowering the cost of care for health systems. The Carevive Care Planning System™ (CPS) is a treatment planning software and assessment solution that aggregates clinical and patient-reported data to deliver evidence-based care plans to cancer patients. This gives providers the ability to select and construct care plans tailored precisely to an individual's needs, giving them the specialized care they need—and deserve—to fight their cancer most effectively.

Beyond improving the patient experience, Carevive’s software application improves care documentation and makes it easier for health systems to prove adherence to quality care standards. This allows health systems to receive higher reimbursements for cancer care and drives the cost of cancer care down.

How Carevive works

Carevive’s software features five core components that enable patients to receive the highest quality of care:

  1. Electronic Patient-Reported Outcomes — Carevive helps patients be more engaged in their care by allowing them to input data about their current health. Providers can review inputted patient feedback and virtually tailor treatment plans, allowing users to benefit from altered care plans in real-time rather than at their next in-person appointment. This data also is used to generate analytic reports to track patient progress throughout treatment.

  2. Navigation and Care Coordination — Carevive gives providers a more holistic view of the patient experience by consolidating care documentation into one platform. For example, if a patient is following their care plan and attending appointments with outside specialists, providers can easily see that; if they’re not, providers can get in touch with patients, find out what’s not working, and make adjustments that better fit a patient’s lifestyle. Streamlining documentation into one place helps providers track care plan adherence.

  3. Risk Stratification — Carevive’s risk stratification models identify high-risk patients in order to monitor their health more closely and implement supportive care protocols. This helps patients who need intensive care follow their treatment plans more closely and stay out of the hospital.

  4. Symptom Triage Protocols — Once patients are classified by their level of risk, Carevive enables clinicians and care providers to select and implement over 100 evidence-based supportive care triage protocols.

  5. Patient Symptom Trending — This functionality tracks patient symptoms in order to generate longitudinal trends that help illustrate the severity of a patient’s condition at specific points in time within the care journey.

These five key components improve provider-to-patient communication and patient engagement. Carevive empowers patients to receive higher quality care and adhere to their personalized treatment plans, thus reducing suffering and unnecessary hospitalization.

Carevive, powered by Redox

Standing on its own, the Carevive Care Planning System is a powerful and comprehensive tool at care providers’ disposal. However, integrating the software with EHRs used at health systems makes it a more dynamic and seamless solution, and ultimately helps improve the patient experience by delivering more cohesive care.

This is because instead of existing outside the system used by medical staff, patient data that’s inputted into an integrated platform like Carevive’s exists within the same system used by medical staff. Data already living within provider workflows can be accessed, reviewed, and utilized more freely by healthcare providers, as there’s no need to sync applications nor have patients call in to report their metrics—it’s all done digitally and in real-time. Reports can be generated with ease, high-risk patients can be monitored more closely, and all patients using Carevive's application receive more synchronous and specialized care.

Carevive has chosen to partner with us for integration, and we’re proud to power their treatment planning application. With cancer being poised to grow exponentially in the coming years, we look forward to helping their solution get into the hands of more patients and providers at health systems across the country.

For more about Carevive and their solution, check out their website here.

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