Optimizing oncology care for better patient management
In recent years, personalized medicine has gained significant momentum for treating many diseases, particularly cancer. However, oncology care trajectories are increasingly complex and require careful coordination by all treating teams.
In the United States alone, organizational inefficiencies in oncology treatment cost to the healthcare system an estimated $445 billion annually, in part due to inefficient patient scheduling and lack of optimization of patient flow. This problem can also affect the quality of care provided to patients. Existing solutions for planning patient care and treatment pathways are tedious, labour intensive and do not consider the complex nature of cancer care.
Cancer Care in Quebec
In Quebec, the persistent labour shortage is putting a great pressure on the healthcare system, which may be a factor in reducing teams’ capacity to care for more people and may contribute to longer cancer surgery waiting lists. Prolonged waits or poor cancer care coordination can impair patients’ remission and in turn impact their lives and that of their families [1]. Moreover, current IT solutions are not centered around multidisciplinary integration of care and use suboptimal techniques for planning patient flows.
Imagine if we could enable better organization of these treatments to relieve already overburdened healthcare providers from these administrative tasks. Gray Oncology Solutions recently developed a software solution to automate patients scheduling for oncology treatments based on their specific needs and care protocols. The cross-departmental solution integrates directly with the electronic medical records (EMR) of oncology clinics and departments. It considers a wide range of parameters, including the type of cancer, the oncology treatment, and the multidisciplinary resources required to coordinate scheduling to maximize patient volume, quality of care, and services.
The deployment of this solution in oncology treatment provides significant benefits to multidisciplinary teams by optimizing available resources to treat cancer patients more effectively.
“At MEDTEQ+, we often see excellent and innovative solutions come to market, but many of them are designed without considering integration with existing healthcare IT infrastructure, which becomes a real hindrance and decreases commercialization opportunities. Because it was developed in a real-world setting with clinical teams, the Gray OS technology is creating a pathway for other companies to follow in order to be successful. Nevertheless, they should not underestimate the creation of a solid, interoperable IT architecture and Internet of Things (IoT) framework,” said Joseph Bahous, Director of Investments, MEDTEQ Invest.
Real-World Validation Is Key
In 2021, Gray Oncology Solutions obtained support from MEDTEQ+ through the 4th call for projects of the Fonds de soutien à l’innovation en santé et services sociaux (FSISSS) for a collaborative project with the Centre hospitalier de l’Université de Montréal CHUM (one of MEDTEQ+‘s Beachheads) to further develop their product while evaluating the clinical and financial impacts of the solution within the CHUM’s Integrated Cancer Center and Radiation Oncology departments. After a successful research and development phase and various pilot projects, the MEDTEQ+’s investment fund, along with AQC Capital and Anges Québec, has concluded a financing round at the end of 2022 to pursue Gray Oncology Solutions’ growth and deploy its solutions in other Canadian provinces and the United States. “We are pleased to continue our collaboration with AQC Capital. By joining forces, we continue to foster the digital health ecosystem in Quebec and Canada added Mr. Bahous.
“Gray Oncology’s team addresses an important issue within healthcare. Their team has show their ability to deliver tangible results and build a product that has a profound impact. AQC Capital is thrilled to continue supporting André, Marc-André and their team in transforming how critical care is delivered” says Louis St-Jacques, partner at AQC Capital
MEDTEQ+, More Than a Typical Accelerator
This investment by MEDTEQ+ to support Gray Oncology Solutions’ innovative technology underscores MEDTEQ+’s unique business model that combines business coaching, scientific validation, grant research and venture capital funding to propel innovations from research to the commercialization. https://www.medteq.ca/en
About AQC Capital
AQC Capital manages two venture capital funds to support businesses in the startup phase. The fund invests in Quebec companies in all sectors that seek to bring innovation to global markets. AQC Capital teams up with Anges Québec, the largest angel investor network in the country, and together the groups bring smart capital to startups thanks to their experience and network.
About Gray Oncology Solutions Inc.
Gray Oncology Solutions, located in Montréal, has a vision of a lean healthcare ecosystem. In pursuit of this vision, they have developed an “operating system” that simplifies cancer treatment by standardizing workflows across multiple points in the cancer pathways (Gray OS). Operationally, this translates into optimizing and automating patient scheduling while explicitly incorporating the complex multidisciplinary workflow, resulting in improved access to care, reduced patient wait times, increased patient, and staff satisfaction, and ultimately, superior patient care. Visit Gray for more information.
[1] Source : https://www.lapresse.ca/actualites/sante/2023-02-09/attente-en-chirurgie/christian-dube-n-aime-pas-les-resultats.php
