Some key cancer-related data elements will soon be a part of many patients’ electronic health records (EHR). Those elements, called the “United States Core Data for Interoperability Plus Cancer” (USCDI+Cancer) will capture the patient’s treatment history, test results, and disease status.

Some of the USCDI+Cancer data elements had input from:

• the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology;
• the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS);
• CancerX;
• NIH, including NCI’s CBIIT; and
• electronic health record developers.

The core elements build on an earlier CMS model (the “Enhancing Oncology Model”), which supports the Cancer Moonshot^SM initiative.

CBIIT’s Dr. Umit Topaloglu, Dr. Shannon Silkensen, and the Real-World Data (RWD) Team have been collaborating on this project. They’ve helped standardize the collection of RWD elements in the EHR. The RWD elements will both enhance the diagnosis of disease and improve patient care.

According to Dr. Topaloglu, “Standardizing the type of data we collect and when we collect those data will go a long way toward ensuring each patient receives the very best care possible, especially in rural and underserved areas.”

“Beyond ensuring equitable care, adopting these standards will add value to the data we collect, not only helping patients today, but informing research to improve patient care in the future,” Dr. Silkensen added.

Several EHR venders will be supporting these new elements, including Epic, Oracle, Meditech, and CVS.