IT Departments Coming Together for Cancer Care

The Information Technology departments at BWH, DFCI and South Shore Hospital are collaborating to share and integrate patient information securely across institutional information systems in support of the new Dana-Farber/Brigham and Women’s Cancer Center in clinical affiliation with South Shore Hospital.

In March, dozens of IT staff from the three hospitals along with the chief information officers of each facility came together for a summit to map out a vision for IT integration. IT specialists for Harbor Medical Associates, a South Shore-based primary care and specialty group, and other private practices play a role in the new cancer center, too.

“The power of this project and our ultimate success in developing systems to enhance patient care and connect care providers across three institutions comes from an unprecedented collaborative effort,” said Sue Schade, BWH’s chief information officer, who joined with DFCI CIO Jeffrey Kessler and SSH CIO Del Dixon for the March 5 IT summit.

The 85,000-square-foot cancer center opens in October 2009, bringing a new model of community-based cancer care to southeastern Massachusetts. The center will provide chemotherapy and infusion, pharmacy, lab services, access to clinical trials, radiation therapy, a full array of diagnostic imaging, surgical oncology and complementary medicine therapies.

The IT departments are working on a universal work station so care providers can access all clinical applications from one desktop. Each IT department has assigned liaisons to the various aspects of the project—everything from applications development to pulling cables through the building. Four IT representatives will work with each service line, patient access and registration services and health information systems staff to ensure seamless electronic workflow across disciplines and institutions.