Obtaining Administrative Efficiencies with IT SupportNick Fisher Babs VogelsangDirector of Clinical Research Director of Information TechnologySiteman Cancer Center Siteman Cancer Center

Administrative Challenges

• Research Systems vs Financial Systems

• Research Systems vs Clinical

Systems

Administrative Challenges

• Financial Systems vs Research Systems– Cancer centers must track all research

activity– Universities must track all (research)

billing activity– Research and billing systems are rarely

fully integrated requiring duplicative efforts

Administrative Challenges

• Clinical Systems vs Research Systems– Cancer centers must track all research

activity– Clinicians must be aware of all clinical

(research) activity– Research and clinical systems are

rarely fully integrated requiring duplicative efforts

Administrative Challenges

• Financial & Clinical– Patient accrual data is essential to

financial operations• Billers must know when a patient is on a

clinical trial (start/stop dates) and what services are billed to trials

– Patient accrual data is essential to clinical operations• Clinicians must know if patients are on

clinical trials and, if so, which trial(s) they are on

Administrative Challenges

• Financial & Clinical– Research staff must “double report”

clinical trial accrual information• Into the clinical trial system + the

university billing system• Into the clinical trial system + the clinical

system(s)

Technical Challenges

• Financial Systems & Research Systems– Eliminate the double entry for the staff– Ensure accuracy of information to the

billing system– Automate the feed of data from

research clinic trials data base to the billing system

Technical Challenges

• Clinical Systems vs Research Systems– Ensure that clinical trial information is

available to the clinicians, support, and hospital staff

– Ensure that clinical trial information is identifiable in the clinical systems to support patient care

– Automate the feed of data from the billing system into the inpatient clinical system

Technical Challenges

• Financial & Clinical– Feed patient accrual data to the university

billing system• Built an automated feed to provide

information concerning patients on a clinical trial and services provided that relate to the trial

– Feed patient accrual data to hospital clinical systems• Allows clinicians, nurses, all hospital staff to

know when patient is on a clinical trial and which trials

• Improves patient care, including necessary labs for the trial

Technical Challenges

• Financial & Clinical– Consistent clinical trial data is

automatically fed in a timely manner• Clinical trial system feeds university billing

system• University billing system feeds the hospital

clinical system(s)