Flatiron Health's GM discusses new partnership with Penn Medicine

Penn's oncology care clinicians will have access to Flatiron Assist's clinical decision support

Earlier this week, Flatiron Health, a a healthcare technology and services company focused on accelerating cancer research and improving patient care, announced a new partnership with Penn Medicine’s Abramson Cancer Center (ACC), so that its oncology care clinicians can have access to advanced cancer care insights from Flatiron Assist, an oncology-specific clinical decision support platform.

The aim of the partnership is to enable clinicians at ACC to determine and promote site-preferred pathways and open clinical trials at the point of care alongside the NCCN Clinical Practice Guidelines in Oncology. Flatiron Assist incorporates NCCN Guidelines for the 26 most common cancers.

The two organizations also said they will work together to optimize the usability and functionality of Flatiron Assist. The project will also aim to leverage Flatiron Assist technology to increase awareness of clinical trial opportunities and drive user adoption and satisfaction. 

Julia Morton, SVP and GM at Flatiron,  spoke to VatorNews about why ACC is a good partner for Flatiron Health, how patients and clinicians will benefit, and how this will advance Flatiron Assist.

VatorNews: Why is the ACC a good partner for Flatiron Health? What values do the two organizations share?

Julia Morton: Flatiron and Penn Medicine have a shared goal of leveraging technology to improve cancer care, create a more equitable health system and generate more positive outcomes for patients. This partnership enables both companies to work together to accelerate the delivery of more standardized, efficient, and effective cancer care across the entire health system. 

VN: What gap does the ACC fill for you? What gap do you fill for them?

JM: With Flatiron Assist, practitioners at the ACC can leverage NCCN guidelines along with their own disease specific pathways to enable them to deliver evidence-based treatment while improving clinical and administrative efficiencies. Their work with Flatiron Assist will allow Flatiron to optimize the tool’s functionality and usability. 

VN: How will the two organizations work together? 

JM: Flatiron and Penn Medicine will provide Flatiron Assist to clinicians at ACC, giving them access to a plethora of care information at the point of care, including NCCN Guidelines for the 26 most common cancers, site-preferred pathways and relevant clinical trial opportunities for patients. The ACC clinicians’ use of Flatiron Assist will allow Flatiron to optimize the technology to further improve patient and provider outcomes. 

VN: What will be different about Flatiron Assist going forward thanks to this partnership? Will there be new functions or use cases?

JM: Flatiron Assist will provide a platform for UPenn Abramson Cancer Center's custom pathways for various cancer types to be integrated within their EHR, while also expanding its user base and sites. Flatiron Assist will continue to pursue product improvements based on UPenn's feedback and evolving needs, potentially leading to new functions and use cases.

VN: How will this benefit clinicians and their patients?

JM: With Flatiron Assist, clinicians will have access to the latest evidence-based medicine, site-preferred pathways and clinical research at the point of care. Flatiron Assist yields positive results for cancer centers, including 88% concordance with NCCN guidelines¹ and a 44% reduction in unique regimens ordered across cancer centers. Flatiron Assist also helps increase awareness of clinical trial opportunities for patients. 

VN: What will success in terms of this partnership look like for Flatiron? What is the end goal?

JM: The success of the partnership for Flatiron is defined by widespread adoption and satisfaction of Flatiron Assist among UPenn's medical oncologists, Flatiron continuing to support customizing UPenn Abramson Cancer Center's cancer pathways, and the introduction of new functions and use cases to continually enhance and positively impact the evolution of technology in cancer care, with the ultimate goal of positively impacting patient outcomes.

(Image source: flatiron.com)