ASCO’s CancerLinQ: Using oncology real-world evidence for quality improvement & discovery
An editorial, published recently in Future Oncology has outlined how ASCO’s CancerLinQ could potentially revolutionize the future of real-world, ‘big data’ cancer care.
In 2012 the board of directors of the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) released a vision statement of what cancer care might look like 25 years in the future in order to better prepare the field, one of the three key drivers that they proposed would have the biggest impact is ‘big data’.
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With this in mind, ASCO created the big-data, real-world health information technology system CancerLinQ®, which launched in U.S. academic medical centers, oncology practices and health systems in 2016. This editorial, written by Jennifer L Wong and Robert S Miller (ASCO, VA, USA), details the opportunities afforded by the CancerLinQ platform as well as challenges addressed by the promise and availability of such a system.
“Innovation and the power of trusted networks are key to harnessing information generated every day to support insights and breakthroughs that will transform care,” commented Wong. “CancerLinQ is a catalyst for the future of healthcare–our intentional strides to grow and scale through coalition building, powerful analytics and data sharing alliances with public, private and not-for-profit partners will allow us to accomplish this and much more.”
In the editorial the authors described CancerLingQ as: “In order to offer a more representative, holistic view of the cancer patient’s journey to support quality improvement efforts and discovery, CancerLinQ is tapping into information that exists beyond the limited cohort of data within traditional clinical trials and the lens of medical oncology alone. Thus, CancerLinQ has engaged the broader oncology community beyond ASCO’s membership to incorporate the integral perspectives of the entire oncology care team, all in an effort to create one of the largest, most robust sources of real-world evidence in oncology.”
“The future is all about bringing together patients, providers and partners to be smarter and more connected in our approach to healthcare,” concluded Wong. “We must learn from one another, leverage the latest innovations, and collaborate to catalyze progress. With the trust of the cancer community, CancerLinQ will be a home to understand what is happening in real-world cancer care today–faster, effectively, and more meaningfully–and be a resource to drive new knowledge, evidence, solutions and discoveries that will benefit people around the world.”
Sources: Revolutionizing the future of real-world, ‘big data’ cancer care: ASCO’s CancerLinQ; Miller RS & Wong JL, Using oncology real-world evidence for quality improvement and discovery: the case for ASCO’s CancerLinQ Future Oncology doi: 10.2217/fon-2017-0521(2017).
