Well-Organized Implementation Delivers Results in Under Five Months
Following a rigorous and well-organized implementation plan, the Chao Family Comprehensive Cancer Center (CFCCC) of the Unversity of California-Irvine has begun using OnCore just five months after kicking-off the project.
"We have to commend the leadership team at the Chao Family Comprehensive Cancer Center," said Srini Kalluri, president and CEO of PercipEnz. "They acquired the necessary resources and assembled a focused, motivated team to carry out the implementation on their end."
"Overall the transition has been positive. For years our staff have been looking forward to having a enterprise-level system like OnCore to assist their clinical research workflow," said Jacqueline Orozco, Assistant Director for Finance and Operations at CFCCC. Orozco notes, however, that for a few independent research groups who conduct their own trials outside of the Clinical Research Office, using the new system might be perceived as a duplication of effort. "Our goal is to help the independent research groups understand the benefit that even a limited use of the new CTMS would offer their research team; i.e. comprehensive data management and reporting, study performance review, protocol management, etc."
The first phase of their implementation was kicked-off on January 28 and went-live on June 16. In less than 5 months, CFCCC completed several major tasks, including: legacy data migration, SOP documentation, and two user trainings. The rollout is being conducted in a matrix-based, phased approach, where different functionality is rolled out to different teams (clinical research team, and the regulatory affair team) at different times.
The next phase will focus on the patient study calendar, which will drive both the study-specific case report forms and financial billings modules. "We are particularly keen on using the Common Data Elements of caDSR to implement study-specific case report forms," said Andrea Hwang, MS, MBA, Informatics Project Manager at CFCCC. OnCore offers seamless integration with the NCI Cancer Data Standards Registry and Repository (caDSR).
The center is also planning to integrate OnCore with their hospital’s electronic medical record (EMR) system. Meanwhile, they would like to use OnCore as the means to comply with the NCI’s various reporting requirements, including the new Clinical Trials Reporting Program (CTRP).
The cancer center has been able to work very closely with the CIO for the Medical Center and his team, known as HAIS. The commitment and collaboration with HAIS has been integral to the success of the OnCore implementation thus far and their commitment for upcoming phases of the project have made it possible to include integration with the hospital EMR earlier than initially planned. "We know that expedited integration with existing medical center systems will make the use of OnCore even more valuable to our research teams," said Orozco.
Various units throughout UC Irvine Health Affairs have expressed an interest in using OnCore. Having completed the first phase of their implementation the center will now begin extending the use of OnCore. "We are scheduled to meet with various departments next month to further discuss their immediate and long term needs and to help them identify how OnCore could address those needs," said Orozco. The clinical research office will suggest opportunities for collaboration through OnCore using both the Clinical Research Management (OnCore-CRM) and the Biospecimen Management (OnCore-BSM) systems. The expectation is that many investigators and administrators will welcome the opportunity for the more effective and efficient research administration that these systems offer. "Now more than ever, we are challenged with the need to do more and better with less staff and OnCore is a valuable tool that will make this challenge attainable."