Cancer is a complex disease for both patients and providers. With so many therapies and clinical trials out there, it’s hard to know which is best for a certain diagnosis.
Oral chemotherapy is a method that’s quickly growing. It’s a fantastic cancer treatment option, but that doesn’t mean it comes without challenges. Difficulties such as drug education and tracking medication adherence make oral chemotherapy intimidating to patients and, quite frankly, a bit exhausting to providers.
Fortunately, we live in the 21st century, and technology is booming! At Groove Health, we’re obsessed with digital solutions in healthcare, and we know technology can help limit these oral chemotherapy challenges.
Oral chemotherapy is on the rise
When you hear the word “chemotherapy,” a picture of a cancer patient with an IV in their arm probably comes to mind. Intravenous chemo dominates the oncology field right now, but oral chemo is getting increasingly popular.
According to the U.S. National Cancer Institute, as much as 25% of chemotherapy drugs are oral.[i] That’s already a pretty staggering statistic, and the crazy thing is that that number will most likely only continue to grow.
Why will that number increase? *oncologist quote?* It boils down to two major reasons: the therapies work, and there’s high demand for them. Patients overwhelmingly prefer oral chemotherapy, and the industry is noticing. In fact, of the newly approved chemotherapies in 2018, 73% of them were oral.[ii] That means nowadays there’s around 80 approved oral chemotherapy drugs, and more and more they’re being developed as strictly oral (meaning they have no IV equivalent).[iii]
There are three main reasons patients favor oral chemo:
- It’s convenient[iv] – patients can receive treatment at home
- The stress and discomfort associated with IV chemotherapy is eliminated[iv]
- It affords significantly better quality of life[iv] than intravenous therapies
Patients have a love/hate relationship with oral chemo
Despite oral chemotherapy being a popular option, adherence to these treatments is fairly low. A patient is considered non-adherent when they take their medications as prescribed less than 80% of the time. It’s estimated that nearly 1/3 of patients on oral chemo are in the non-adherent category.[v]
You might be asking yourself, “if my patients prefer oral chemotherapy, why can’t I get them to remain adherent?” This is a fair question, but it requires you take a closer look at each patient and their specific struggles.
Some of the biggest reasons for non-adherence amongst the cancer population are *oncologist quote?*:
Too many things to consider
With IV therapies, patients show up to your clinic at the scheduled time and the nurses do the rest. With oral therapies, patients often have to ask themselves when and how to take their pills, if they remembered to take them, and so on.
Complex medication regimens
Some patients are motivated to take their medications, but the regimens are just too confusing, leading to possible slip-ups. Take Lonsurf, for example, a tablet used in treating colon cancer.[vi] The instructions for a month supply are:
For the first 2 weeks, take twice a day for 5 days after morning and evening meals, followed by 2 days of rest. Follow with 2 full weeks of rest. Repeat the cycle.
You had to read that at least twice, didn’t you? Same here.
Unwelcome side effects
When your patients aren’t coming into your clinic, they get to call the shots. If their chemo makes them fatigued and they have a busy day ahead, they might skip it.
Forgetfulness
Oral treatments typically don’t come with daily reminders. Just like you might forget to pack your kid’s lunch, your patients might simply forget to take their oral chemotherapy medication.
Care teams encounter oral chemo challenges daily
Oral chemotherapy doesn’t just present difficulties to patients; it asks a lot of oncology teams, too. Providers work tirelessly to ensure cancer patients understand their medications and take them properly.
If you’re part of an oncology care team, you know that some of the biggest pain points include:
Unorganized patient tracking
Unfortunately, many oncology team members are left to their own devices when it comes to tracking and prioritizing their oral chemotherapy patients. Elizabeth Bettencourt, RN, MSN, OCN explains in The Oncology Nursing Podcast that she utilizes a self-made Excel sheet to do so.[vii] We know what you’re thinking – there must be a better way!
Long medication education sessions
Oncology teams are responsible for educating cancer patients on their new oral chemotherapy pills. These long teaching sessions run through everything from dosing schedules to prescription refills. While sessions are thorough, care team members can’t help but wonder if their patients will remember all the information.
Never-ending follow-up calls
To lessen the chance of non-adherence, oncology clinics might invest time into calling patients to confirm they’re taking their medications. Depending on a clinic’s number of patients, follow-up calls alone can truly be considered a full-time job!
Even after tracking, educating, and following up, questions remain. Oncologists, nurses, and other team members still wonder if patients are actually sticking to their oral chemotherapy regimens.
Oral chemotherapy affects business operations, too
Non-adherence to oral chemotherapy also has implications for a clinic’s profit and loss. Leadership teams are tasked with evaluating how non-adherent patients affect the bottom line.
Two major concerns for a clinic’s business professionals are:
Efficiency
Oncology nurses and other team members spend a lot of their time calling patients to check medication compliance. They could be using this time to see patients or assist the oncologists. This lack of efficiency can negatively affect workflow, something any leadership team hopes to avoid.
Performance-based payments
Oncology practices that participate in the Oncology Care Model (OCM) and other value-based programs have performance-based payments up for grabs. When cancer patients don’t stick to their oral chemotherapy regimens, costs per episode and avoidable ED visits tend to increase, leading to missed financial incentives.
Luckily, technology can help everyone involved in a cancer journey!
Nowadays, is there a problem that technology can’t solve?! Everyone has their opinions, but when it comes to reducing medication non-adherence, we know that turning to digital health solutions is the right move.
Not just any technology will work, though. You need to implement a tool that not only engages and empowers your patients,[viii] but also does the dirty work for you.
Enter: Groove Health
Hi – that’s us! At Groove Health, we’re dedicated to improving medication adherence with best-in-class technology. How? Through our easy-to-use integrated platform.
Meet our mobile app
Just as your clinic calls or texts patients to remind them of an office visit, you could (and should!) send patients reminders to take their oral chemotherapy pills. Of course, there’s no way your team could manually do this every day for every patient – at least, not while staying sane. That’s why the AI-powered Groove Health medication management mobile app is a great digital health solution.
Key features include:
- Reminder notifications
- These nudges don’t disappear until the medication is marked as “taken” or “skipped”
- Interaction alerts
- When a new medication is inputted into the app, our artificial intelligence technology can recognize potentially dangerous drug-to-drug interactions
- Maxwell
- He’s our conversational chatbot – available 24/7 – that can answer patients’ questions about their oral chemo
- Progress sharing
- Patients can choose members of their support team to add as “friends” that will receive medication adherence progress reports
Meet our clinical portal
You might be thinking, “I’m glad my patients are taken care of, but what about me?” We’ve got you covered. Groove Health’s clinical portal offers a deep dive into medication adherence. We provide you with access to real-time oral chemo adherence data that’s both detailed and accurate.
Key features include:
- An adherence overview
- In just a glance, you can quickly assess a patient’s overall medication adherence to identify potential issues before they occur
- Detailed data
- Simply clicking on a particular date will give you insight into which medications were taken and when and which ones a patient might’ve missed
- Easy onboarding
- In a few clicks, you can invite patients to enroll in the Groove Health mobile app and auto-sync their medication schedule
How does it work?
Our SmartSync technology connects patients and oncologists by syncing the mobile app and clinical portal. When a patient marks their oral chemotherapy as taken, your platform registers this information. When you add a new medication to a patient’s medication list, their mobile app auto-populates with their new regimen. This keeps everyone on the same page while allowing for live insights.
The best part? We can even integrate into your EHR, meaning you can access medication adherence data without having to leave your clinic’s system.
This sounds cool, but how will it lessen my pain points?
For care teams, Groove Health’s digital solutions simplify the day-to-day routine. Say “goodbye” to Excel sheets and “hello” to easy patient tracking within your EHR. Worry less about patients leaving teaching sessions and forgetting everything they just learned. Their dosing schedule has been auto-populated in their mobile app, and they can ask Maxwell questions about their medication! Even cut back on the number of follow-up calls you have to make. With Groove Health, you can easily compare medication adherence levels among patients, helping to determine who should be called first and more often.
For leadership teams, Groove Health gives your practice the upper hand in the industry. On the efficiency side, workflow is drastically improved. Clinicians aren’t bogged down with tedious tasks like patient tracking and calling. On the revenue side, a large profit stands to be gained. Groove Health expects to deliver a strong ROI through better patient outcomes, increased payments from value-based programs, fewer hospitalizations and ED visits, and higher patient satisfaction.
So, are you sold?
As an oncologist, you have a tough job. Digital health solutions can help. With Groove Health, adapting to the world of eHealth has never been easier. Learn what a medication adherence platform can do for you and your practice. Email info@everydose.ai to schedule a demo today!
[i] Sonia Amin Thomas (Sonia Patel), PharmD. “Challenges to Oral Chemotherapy Adherence.” U.S. Pharmacist – The Leading Journal in Pharmacy, 18 June 2019, www.uspharmacist.com/article/challenges-to-oral-chemotherapy-adherence.
[ii] IQVIA™ Institute for Human Data Science Releases Global … www.iqvia.com/newsroom/2019/05/iqvia-institute-for-human-data-science-releases-global-oncology-trends-2019-study-record-number-of-c.
[iii] “Patient Adherence, a Challenge of Oral Chemotherapy.” Targeted Oncology, www.targetedonc.com/view/patient-adherence-a-challenge-of-oral-chemotherapy.
[iv] Eek, Daniel, et al. “Patient-Reported Preferences for Oral versus Intravenous Administration for the Treatment of Cancer: A Review of the Literature.” Patient Preference and Adherence, Dove Medical Press, 24 Aug. 2016, www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5003561/#:~:text=and%20side%20effects.-,Discussion,of%20efficacy%2C%20and%20past%20experience.
[v] “Utilizing Patient Reported Outcomes for Patients Recieving Oral Chemotherapy.” Journal of Clinical Oncology, ascopubs.org/doi/abs/10.1200/JCO.2017.35.8_suppl.190.
[vi] “How To Take Lonsurf.” LONSURF® (Trifluridine and Tipiracil) Tablets, www.lonsurf.com/taking-lonsurf/how-to-take-lonsurf.
[vii] “The Oncology Nursing Podcast – Episode 16: Navigating the Challenges of Oral Chemotherapy on Stitcher.” The Oncology Nursing Podcast – Episode 16: Navigating the Challenges of Oral Chemotherapy on Stitcher, www.stitcher.com/show/the-oncology-nursing-podcast/episode/episode-16-navigating-the-challenges-of-oral-chemotherapy-55933104.
[viii] Kaplan;, Deborah Abrams. “Fun and Games for Medication Adherence.” Managed Healthcare Executive, www.managedhealthcareexecutive.com/view/fun-and-games-for-medication-adherence.