Michigan Cancer Centers to Use mHealth in Value-Based Care Project

Nineteen cancer care centers in Michigan will soon be using an mHealth app to capture patient-reported outcomes in an effort to develop a new Medicare reimbursement model for oncology care.

The Michigan Oncology Quality Consortium is partnering with California-based Varian to launch the connected health platform, which will allow patients to chart their treatment and give care providers the ability to manage care on the go. The Henry Ford Cancer Institute and Munson Medical Center are the first of 19 to deploy the app, with the rest scheduled to come on board by April 2020.

The project, authorized under the Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization Act of 2015 (MACRA), aims to identify measures for the Quality Payment Program that would improve clinical outcomes and help the nation’s healthcare industry in its move to value-based care.

"In order to make significant strides toward developing quality measures, we understand the value and need of hearing and responding to the patient's voice - before, during, and after treatment,” Jennifer Griggs, MD, MOQC’s program director, said in a press release. “The selection of (Varian’s mHealth app) Noona was based on the fact that it was the only oncology-specific program, has a patient-friendly interface, and is customizable with a short turnaround time."

Hospitals and health systems across the country are increasing turning to mHealth apps and telehealth platforms that allow care providers to capture patient data – ranging from vital signs to observations on physical and mental health to social determinants of health – to help them better gauge how care is managed outside the healthcare site and whether it’s effective.

Projects like that being conducted by MOQC are designed to develop better care management plans that include the patient’s participation – and, more importantly, to enable the payer industry to better reimburse providers for using virtual care tools.