The Oncology Precision Network announced additional commitments to bring access to precision medicine and data sharing to more health systems and cancer patients across the country. The commitment, taking place in conjunction with the Cancer Moonshot Summit in Washington, DC on June 29, was announced today by the White House.
The following commitment statement was released by the White House in a fact sheet on June 29, and highlighted by Vice President Joe Biden in his introductory comments:
“Intermountain Healthcare, Stanford Cancer Institute, Providence Health & Services, and Syapse have joined together to launch OPeN, the Oncology Precision Network. OPeN will advance cancer care through sharing of cancer genomics data, rapidly bringing the most promising treatment insights to cancer patients and physicians with the potential of increasing access to clinical trials. With its current membership, OPeN comprises data and physicians across 11 states, 79 hospitals and 800 clinics, and will impact 50,000 new cancer cases per year.
“OPeN pledges to expand its impact across the United States by onboarding at least five new healthcare systems in the next 12 months, focusing on community healthcare systems outside of the currently-served states in order to bring the best quality cancer care to patients in other geographic regions.
“OPeN pledges to facilitate data access to help providers guide treatment decisions as soon as the first comprehensive data set is available, enabling a broader community of providers to leverage this new knowledge and drive more rapid progress.
“OPeN pledges to bring the best cancer care to patients where they live by making clinical trials more readily available in the community. OPeN will increase access to clinical trials by matching patients from at least 20 community sites across the network to appropriate trials within 15 months.”
The White House document can be accessed here.
In his final State of the Union address, President Barack Obama tasked Vice President Biden with heading up a new national effort, the Cancer Moonshot. The ultimate goal is to double the rate of progress, making a decade’s worth of advances in cancer prevention, diagnosis, treatment and care in five years.
“The Moonshot cannot be achieved by one person, one organization, one discipline, or even one collective approach,” said Biden. “Solving the complexities of cancer will require the formation of new alliances to defy the bounds of innovation and accelerate the prevention, diagnosis, treatment, and — ultimately — a cure. It’s going to require millions of Americans speaking up and contributing what they’re able. That’s what the Cancer Moonshot Summit is all about.”
Members of the network already have a voice in the Cancer Moonshot conversation. In June, the White House Cancer Moonshot team published a blog post by Jonathan Hirsch about the need for data sharing and the launch of Oncology Precision Network.
Intermountain Healthcare is a Utah-based nonprofit system of 22 hospitals, 185 clinics, a medical group with over 1,400 employed physicians and advanced practice clinicians, a health plans division called SelectHealth, and other health services. Intermountain is widely recognized as a leader in transforming healthcare through high quality and sustainable costs. For more information about Intermountain Healthcare, visit Intermountainhealthcare.org.
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