We have long recognised the importance of timely health data in care planning and delivery, but issues remain. Data are collected in siloes, data across different stages of cancer care pathways are fragmented, and collection processes are seen as a burden on time-strapped healthcare professionals. Bias is also inherent in data, with limited efforts made to gain data that reflect the rich and complex nature of modern societies.
HPP partnered with The Health Value Alliance and All.Can International to investigate why health data are not being used to their full potential and how to overcome the prevailing issues. The aim of the project was to turn insights from research and real-life examples of data use into recommendations that policymakers and others can act upon to improve how we use data to deliver efficiency across the whole cancer care pathway. The resulting report looks at the most relevant types of data from a complex health data ecosystem and examines them in turn, not limited to any country or type of cancer.
Through desk research examining over 400 abstracts and 100 peer-reviewed publications from the past five years, supported by grey literature, 16 expert interviews and 11 case studies, we have gained a picture of health data use that has immense potential to create an efficient system of care that best responds to the needs of people with cancer.
In partnership with The Health Value Alliance and the All.Can Data Working Group, we produced a policy report containing a number of recommendations for policymakers, supported with a summary of main points. We also developed a video and other communications materials to help All.Can International disseminate the report and its messages. The report was launched at All.Can Global Summit on 27–28 May 2021.
Work on this project continues; we are currently working on a paper which will summarise the role of health data in creating efficiency in cancer care, which we will submit to a peer-reviewed journal for publication.
HPP’s work on this project was commissioned by All.Can International. All.Can International is a not-for-profit organisation (ASBL) registered in Belgium. Its work is made possible with financial support from Bristol Myers Squibb (main sponsor), Roche (major sponsor), MSD and Johnson & Johnson (sponsors), Baxter and Illumina (contributors), with additional non-financial (in kind) support from Helpsy, The Health Value Alliance and Goings-On. In addition, this report received financial support from Novartis.