President's Cancer Panel

The President’s Cancer Panel held the third workshop in its series on connected health and cancer on July 9, 2015, in Chicago, Illinois. The workshop, entitled The Connected Cancer Patient: Vision for the Future and Recommendations for Action, brought together leaders from academia, technology, government, advocacy, and healthcare. Participants discussed the desired future state for connected health in cancer prevention and care and identified steps that could be taken to achieve identified goals by 2020. Discussion and recommendations focused on four areas: person- and family-centered care; personal health information and data sharing; devices, sensors, and apps; and national health information infrastructure.

The current healthcare delivery system suffers from many discontinuities in communication, which can result in inefficient and ineffective cancer prevention and care. Participants discussed a new patient-centered paradigm in which the needs and values of individuals and their families are central to care delivery, and all patients are closely connected to their providers. In addition, providers and other members of the care team are connected seamlessly. Health information technology can catalyze and support patient-centeredness and help achieve the Triple Aim of better care, better health, and lower costs. More research is needed to elucidate further the benefits of connected health. There also are opportunities to learn more about how to fully engage patients and the benefits that can be derived from engaged patients and an engaged public since at any one time, most people are not patients.

Participants envisioned a future in which widespread collection of personal health information and personal access to this information will lead to better self-management and contribute to a culture of health. Individuals will have the power to access and curate their data, and well-designed informed consent will facilitate widespread data sharing with healthcare professionals and researchers. Some personal health information will be gathered by the rapidly increasing array of devices, sensors, and apps. New and improved consumer-focused apps can increase the benefit of personal health information by providing personalized feedback to patients and collecting patient-reported outcomes. Devices, sensors, and apps also can contribute valuable data for research if they are validated and provide data in standard formats.

Achieving the promise of connected health for cancer prevention and care is contingent on a robust, interoperable health information infrastructure. Individuals will be able to participate fully in and benefit from connected health only if they have consistent and affordable broadband service. Data systems and tools, including electronic health records, will be most effective if designed to support both patient care and provider work flows. In addition, clinical care and research will be enhanced if information from disparate databases and systems can be linked and shared.

Findings and recommendations from the series will be presented in the Panel’s 2014–2015 Report to the President of the United States.

Presentation materials from the meeting can be accessed here, and a detailed meeting summary can be accessed here.