Memorial Sloan Kettering Launches Telemedicine Platform for Cancer Care

Memorial Sloan Kettering (MSK) Cancer Center collaborated with Accenture, Avanade, and Microsoft to develop and launch a telemedicine platform in August 2021, which has since been used for more than 200,000 virtual appointments, a Sept. 26 press release announced. 

Through the COVID-19 pandemic, virtual resources and remote care technology implementation skyrocketed. To meet the rise in patient demand, MSK created the platform known as MSK Telemedicine.

“There was an incredible need for us to make changes in our technology during the early days of the pandemic, so our DigITs team worked tirelessly to develop MSK Telemedicine,” said Atefeh Riazi, MSK’s chief information officer, in a press release.

In 2021, MSK surveyed radiation oncology patients and found that patients who used telehealth were satisfied and felt they received high-quality, effective care.

A majority of respondents said their confidence in their physician (90 percent), understanding of the treatment plan (88 percent), and confidence in their treatment (87 percent) were better or no different during a telemedicine visit than in an in-person office visit.

This further prompted MSK to develop the telemedicine platform with assistance from Accenture, Avanade, and Microsoft. The companies worked with the MSK Digital Informatics and Technology Solutions team to create and refine MSK Telemedicine over the past year.

“MSK Telemedicine was designed to give our patients more options to receive care, and it will remain an important tool for us to bring exceptional care and expertise to our patients, when and where they need us,” continued Riazi.

The platform integrates with Microsoft Teams, and patients can participate in meetings using a web browser hosted by Microsoft Azure Communications Services. Patients can complete virtual check-in processes through the platform, like filling in forms and surveys. Further, MSK care coordinators, nurses, fellows, interpreters, as well as patients' families and friends can join the virtual visit if needed.

The announcement about the platform follows recent news that MSK received a grant from the National Cancer Institute (NCI) to create a telehealth research center. The organization will use the funding to establish the MATCHES (Making Telehealth Delivery of Cancer Care at Home Effective and Safe) Telehealth Research Center at MSK, which aims to evaluate the quality of telehealth services.

Recently, several healthcare organizations have announced efforts to enhance cancer care using telehealth and analytics technology. 

In August, Northwestern Medicine announced plans to create a telehealth research center funded by the NCI that will track smoking, obesity, and inactivity among cancer patients and study how telehealth can help mitigate these health risk behaviors.

Also, in August, researchers created a deep-learning algorithm to enhance lung cancer radiation therapy treatment. Brigham and Women’s Hospital researchers developed the algorithm to detect non-small cell lung cancer tumors within computed tomography scans.