Cell Therapy Informatics: Updates on the Integration of HCT/IEC Functionalities into an Electronic Medical Record System in the US to Promote Efficiency, Patient Safety, Research, and Data Interoperability

Vincent T Ho; Thomas R Klumpp; Wayne H Liang; Matt Prestegaard; Mitchell Horwitz; Betty K Hamilton; Kristin Page; Samantha Jaglowski; John Huber; Charles Martinez; Vinaya Shenoy; Allen Chen; Douglas Rizzo

doi:10.1016/j.jtct.2023.06.014

Cell Therapy Informatics: Updates on the Integration of HCT/IEC Functionalities into an Electronic Medical Record System in the US to Promote Efficiency, Patient Safety, Research, and Data Interoperability

Transplant Cell Ther. 2023 Sep;29(9):539-547. doi: 10.1016/j.jtct.2023.06.014. Epub 2023 Jun 26.

Authors

Affiliations

¹ Department of Medical Oncology, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts. Electronic address: Vincent_Ho@DFCI.Harvard.edu.
² Department of Medical Oncology, Thomas Jefferson University School of Medicine, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
³ Aflac Cancer and Blood Disorders Center, Children's Healthcare of Atlanta and Emory University, Atlanta, Georgia.
⁴ National Marrow Donor Program, Minneapolis, Minnesota.
⁵ Adult Blood and Marrow Transplant Program, Duke University Medical Center, Durham, North Carolina.
⁶ Blood and Marrow Transplant Program, Cleveland Clinic, Cleveland, Ohio.
⁷ Center for International Blood and Marrow Transplant Research, Medical College of Wisconsin, Madison, Wisconsin.
⁸ Division of Hematology, The Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio.
⁹ Bone Marrow Transplantation and Immune Deficiency, Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center, Cincinnati, Ohio.
¹⁰ Department of Stem Cell Transplantation and Cellular Therapy, MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, Texas.
¹¹ Software Development, Epic Systems Corporation, Verona, Wisconsin.
¹² Pediatric Hematology and Oncology, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Maryland.
¹³ Division of Hematology and Oncology, Froedtert & the Medical College of Wisconsin Cancer Center Cancer, Medical College of Wisconsin, Madison, Wisconsin.

PMID: 37379969
DOI: 10.1016/j.jtct.2023.06.014

Abstract

The use of electronic health/medical record (EMR) systems has streamlined medical practice and improved efficiency of clinical care in recent years. However, EMR systems are not generally well designed to support research and tracking of longitudinal outcomes across populations, which are particularly important in hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HCT) and immune effector cell therapy (IEC), where data reporting to registries and regulatory agencies are often required. Since its formation in 2014, the HCT EMR user group has worked with a large EMR vendor (Epic) to develop many functionalities within the EMR to improve the care of HCT/IEC patients and facilitate the capture of HCT/IEC data in an easily interoperable format. Awareness and the widespread adoption of these new tools among transplant centers remains a challenge, however. In this report, we aim to increase awareness and adoption of these new features in the Epic EMR across the transplantation community, advocate for the use of data standards, and promote future collaboration with other commercial EMRs to develop standardized HCT/IEC content to improve patient care and facilitate interoperable data exchange.

Keywords: Data; Electronic health/medical record; Hematopoietic cell transplantation; Immune effector cell therapy; Informatics; Interoperability; Patient safety.

MeSH terms

Electronic Health Records*
Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplantation*
Humans
Informatics
Patient Safety
Software