Cancer Symptom Management Pathways Software Launched

Carevive Systems, Inc. has launched its computerized cancer symptom management pathways solution, developed through the support of a multi-million dollar Phase I/II Small Business Innovations Research contract funded by the National Cancer Institute.

This product took over five years to develop, test, and pilot with input from an international panel of cancer symptom experts. Phase I was awarded by the NCI in 2018, and Phase II in 2020. Symptom management is a focus of the Cancer Moonshot Initiative. According to Carevive, it is the only company that applied for and received a Fast-Track Phase I/II contract award from the NCI under this research topic.  Carevive STAIRS (Symptom Triage, Assessment, Intervention and Response System) initially covers the eight most common cancer symptoms which, when severe, result in treatment interruptions, modifications, or discontinuations and hospitalizations.

Today, most patients are not monitored remotely between clinic visits. As a result, patients only contact triage lines when they are experiencing problematic symptoms. Due to short staffing and busy clinics, many patients become frustrated by long wait times, even going to the ER.  When nurses or medical assistants (MAs) call patients back, they often use unstructured triage and assessment processes that require multiple calls between patients and providers, which is frustrating and inefficient.

With Carevive PROmpt, patients are systematically monitored remotely every week, and the care team is notified electronically when patients report symptoms that may require clinical intervention. With the launch of Carevive STAIRS, when nurses or MAs receive a notification, they can now use structured, decision-tree-based questions when following up with patients to triage and assess symptoms, and the system will offer recommended evidence-based management strategies for consideration. The Carevive STAIRS workflow then enables a provider to easily approve a course of action electronically, with auto-documentation of the entire encounter in the patient's EHR. As a result of Carevive STAIRS, nurses and providers are comforted, knowing they are following evidence-based recommendations for symptom triage, assessment, and management, and patients are comforted knowing they are being monitored outside of the clinic and the care team will call them when appropriate.

"Patients today don't discuss their cancer symptoms with their care team until they become problematic, often leading to treatment holds, treatment discontinuations, or hospitalizations, all of which negatively impact treatment outcomes and increases overall costs of care," said Madelyn Trupkin Herzfeld, RN, BSN, Carevive's Founder and Vice Chairman. "Carevive PROmpt plus Carevive STAIRS will allow nurses to proactively monitor their patients' experience and intervene early.  Our structured evidence-based frameworks will allow nurses to work more efficiently and at the top of their license, which is critical in this era of limited care team bandwidth and staffing shortages. I'm so proud of Carevive's offerings that meaningfully improve the patient experience and their treatment outcomes."

"This is exactly what we need to be more closely connected to our patients," said Carrie Wines-Larch, BSN, RN, ONN-CG, Survivorship & Nurse Navigator Program Coordinator at Charleston Area Medical Center, a pilot site for Carevive STAIRS. "All administrators should love this product. Everyone is focusing on how technology can advance practice, save providers, nurses, and patients time, improve patient, nurse and provider satisfaction, and support value-based payment models focusing on mitigating hospitalizations and promoting patient satisfaction. Our nurses, providers, and patients all see significant value in using this technology."