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INVESTIGATIONS INTO USING ELECTRONIC PATIENT-REPORTED DATA TO DRIVE IMPROVEMENTS IN CLINICAL OUTCOMES
Gabrielle Rocque , M . D ., MPH
Scientist , O ’ Neal Comprehensive Cancer Center
Associate Professor , Hematology & Oncology , Department of Medicine , UAB Heersink School of Medicine
Courtney Williams , DrPH , MPH
Associate Scientist , O ’ Neal Comprehensive Cancer Center
Assistant Professor , Preventive Medicine , Department of Medicine , UAB Heersink School of Medicine
Gabrielle Rocque , M . D ., MPH , is a medical oncologist specializing in breast cancer . Courtney Williams , DrPH , is a health services researcher who studies cancerrelated affordability and care access issues . The two together are using data — electronically reported by patients from the comfort of their own homes — to improve care .
For many years , Rocque has served as a mentor to Williams . In fact , their collaboration began in 2015 when Williams worked as a statistician in Rocque ’ s lab while pursuing her doctorate in Health Care Organization and Policy . When Williams was recruited to UAB in 2022 as an assistant professor , the two joined forces again .
Rocque received a grant to integrate the collection of electronic patientreported data as part of routine cancer care , and she set out to keep patients out of the hospital by closely monitoring and managing symptoms . The initiative
involved receiving and sending text messages to patients ’ cell phones to regularly capture symptoms and their severity outside of clinic . Certain feedback would prompt clinic nurses to intervene .
The feedback , however , wasn ’ t limited to just physical ailments . Williams also saw an opportunity to leverage questions about cancer-related financial hardship .
“ Addressing high out-of-pocket treatment costs and their accompanying distress impacts patient outcomes too ,” said Williams . “ The patient-reported data has shown that about a third of our patients are experiencing cancer-related financial distress , which is even higher for certain patient groups . This data has uncovered a need for financial counselors to help patients address these financial issues . We ’ re currently in the process of adding these team members to our clinical cancer care teams .”
Their collaboration is changing the landscape for cancer patients at the O ’ Neal
Comprehensive Cancer Center , and now it ’ s also affecting federal policy initiatives . Their work was invited for presentation at the U . S . Department of Health and Human Services and selected by the U . S . Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation to inform federal health programs that build data capacity for collecting patient-centered economic data .
“ This initiative is cutting-edge — there are very few other institutions routinely collecting patient-reported data to improve the patientcenteredness of cancer care ,” said Rocque .
“ We ’ re both interested in addressing larger , systemic issues that affect patient outcomes . Gabrielle is a physician — she brings a lot of clinical expertise , while I ’ m a scientist specializing in research methods ,” said Williams . “ But we have shared goals . We ’ re already seeing better outcomes for patients . Patient care is improving in a multifaceted way , and that is really the end goal .” ❚■
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