The number of electronic health record (EHR) systems joining with CancerLinQ^® to facilitate information sharing continues to grow. CancerLinQ LLC, a wholly owned nonprofit subsidiary of ASCO, announced in December that Varian’s ARIA^® Oncology Information System (OIS) is the next electronic health record (EHR) system to be certified by CancerLinQ after meeting criteria for interoperability and data standardization. This collaboration aims to dismantle barriers to information sharing and streamline access to CancerLinQ for oncology practices using Varian ARIA OIS. 

“We are excited to work with a company that sees not only the value, but the need for interoperability across EHR systems to improve cancer care,” said CancerLinQ LLC CEO Cory Wiegert. “This certification will embed CancerLinQ within Varian’s platform and allow more oncologists and patients to experience the benefits from a community of learning.”

Last summer, it was announced that Integra Connect’s EHR Solution for Oncology had been recognized as the first CancerLinQ^® Certified EHR System. CancerLinQ and Integra Connect have also entered into an agreement to collaborate on products and services geared toward improving the quality of cancer care and the access of the CancerLinQ platform to oncology practices.

CancerLinQ is a health information technology platform working to improve the quality of cancer care for patients by aggregating and analyzing real-world cancer data. The CancerLinQ Certified EHR program recognizes systems that meet specific requirements for interoperability and cancer data standardization. To become a CancerLinQ Certified EHR and maintain this status, an EHR system must do the following, in addition to fulfilling other requirements:

• Support the creation and maintenance of health records including, but not limited to, individually identifiable oncology and/or hematology patient information;
• Maintain a leading industry standard for the recording of precise, structured, and standardized clinical data;
• Meet certain federal standards for EHR technology, interoperability,
• privacy, and safety;
• Work to achieve the continuous, secure transfer of data to the CancerLinQ system from patients associated with practices that both participate in CancerLinQ and use the EHR; and
• Participate in efforts among stakeholders in the cancer community to drive improvement of interoperability, establish core data elements, and support efforts to standardize and harmonize data approaches.

“We are excited for our practice’s electronic health record system to begin to work with CancerLinQ to improve the quality of patient care,” said Keith A. Thompson, MD, of Montgomery Cancer Center, a CancerLinQ practice and Varian subscriber. “This collaboration will enable us to readily and securely share health data, ultimately allowing us to learn from more patients’ experiences. This will benefit both our patients and our practice.”

CancerLinQ^® and CancerLinQ Discovery^® are projects of CancerLinQ LLC.