Clinical trial · Interventional
Evaluating the CAREchart@Home™ Program for Enhancing After-hours Cancer Care
Evaluating the CAREchart@Home™ Program for Enhancing After-hours Care of Cancer Patients in Ontario: A Pilot Randomized Controlled Trial
- Source
- ClinicalTrials.gov
- Retrieved
- Sep 8, 2026
- Layer
- normalized (units and labels harmonized; values unchanged)
- Run
- ING-CLINICALTRIALS-20260908-000001
Why stopped (as posted): Due to unforeseen circumstances, the funder decided to discontinue all funding.
Summary
Brief summary (as posted)
The objective of the current project is to pilot the evaluation of the health and economic benefits of having online access to health information in the context of providing telemedicine support for oncology patients receiving outpatient systemic therapy in Ontario. This pilot study will determine the feasibility of conducting a full-scale randomized controlled trial that could definitively determine whether the addition of access to patients' health information in the after-hours telemedicine program reduces emergency department use, affect patients' experience of care, or improve patient-reported health. The study will be conducted at, and with patients from, the Stronach Regional Cancer Centre (SRCC) at Southlake. Eligible patients will be adults (at least 18 years of age) with a confirmed cancer diagnosis, and initiating or continuing treatment with systemic therapy at the SRCC. Prospective patients will be randomized across two arms. Recruitment will take place during a 6.5-month recruitment period and followed up for a period of 3 months.
Conditions
Conditions (1)
Free-text conditions as registered, with the CancerIndex entity they were reconciled to and the match type.
| Condition (as posted) | Mapped entity | Match | Confidence |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cancer | Malignant Neoplasm | ALIAS | 0.90 |
Interventions
Interventions (1)
| Intervention | Type | Mapped drug | Match |
|---|---|---|---|
| Shared electronic patient record | Other | — | UNRESOLVED |
Design
Arms and outcomes
Arms (2)
- type
- NO_INTERVENTION
- label
- After-hours care
- description
- Patients in the after-hours care (AH) group will receive the usual (telemedicine) care. That is, they will have the option to call the after-hours centre and receive help from the oncology nurses using the COSTaRS practice guides to manage their after-hours symptoms.
- type
- EXPERIMENTAL
- label
- After-hours care w/personal health info
- description
- Patients in the after-hours care with personal health information (AH-PHI) group will also receive the usual (telemedicine) care. However, if they call the telemedicine service, the oncology nurses will have access to some of their personal health information from the cancer centre (i.e., a shared electronic patient record) via the MedChart platform.
- interventionNames
- Other: Shared electronic patient record
Primary outcomes (7)
- measure
- Proportion of patients willing to be randomized
Eligibility
Eligibility (as posted)
- Sex
- All
- Minimum age
- 18 Years
- Maximum age
- 100 Years
Show eligibility criteria text
Inclusion Criteria: * Confirmed cancer diagnosis (all cancers, all stages) * Initiating or continuing treatment with systemic therapy (oral or injected/IV; excluding hormonal therapy for breast or prostate cancer) at Stronach Regional Cancer Centre at Southlake Exclusion Criteria: * Being treated with radiation * Unable to read or understand spoken English (Required for completing the questionnaires) * Unable to utilize the after-hours services due to cognitive impairment
References
Publications (7)
- BACKGROUNDBarbera L, Atzema C, Sutradhar R, Seow H, Howell D, Husain A, Sussman J, Earle C, Liu Y, Dudgeon D. Do patient-reported symptoms predict emergency department visits in cancer patients? A population-based analysis. Ann Emerg Med. 2013 Apr;61(4):427-437.e5. doi: 10.1016/j.annemergmed.2012.10.010. Epub 2013 Jan 4. PMID 23290526
- BACKGROUNDCancer Care Ontario. (2014). Quality Person-Centred Systemic Treatment in Ontario, 2014-2019 (pp. 1-46). Toronto, ON: Cancer Care Ontario.
- BACKGROUNDCancer Quality Council of Ontario. (2016, October). Cancer Safety Quality Index: Unplanned Hospital Visits During Chemotherapy. Retrieved March 23, 2018, from http://www.csqi.on.ca/by_patient_journey/treatment/unplanned_hospital_visits_during_chemotherapy/
- BACKGROUNDFerrer-Roca O, Subirana R. A four-year study of telephone support for oncology patients using a non-supervised call centre. J Telemed Telecare. 2002;8(6):331-6. doi: 10.1258/135763302320939211. PMID 12537920
- BACKGROUNDKurtz ME, Kurtz JC, Given CW, Given B. Effects of a symptom control intervention on utilization of health care services among cancer patients. Med Sci Monit. 2006 Jul;12(7):CR319-24. Epub 2006 Jun 28. PMID 16810138
- BACKGROUNDPalumbo MO, Kavan P, Miller WH Jr, Panasci L, Assouline S, Johnson N, Cohen V, Patenaude F, Pollak M, Jagoe RT, Batist G. Systemic cancer therapy: achievements and challenges that lie ahead. Front Pharmacol. 2013 May 7;4:57. doi: 10.3389/fphar.2013.00057. eCollection 2013. PMID 23675348
- BACKGROUNDPanattoni, L., Fedorenko, C. R., Kreizenbeck, K. L., Greenlee, S., Walker, J. R., Greenwood-Hickman, M. A., et al. (2017). Costs of potentially preventable emergency department use during cancer treatment: A regional study [Abstract]. Journal of Clinical Oncology / 2017 ASCO Annual Meeting, 35(8_suppl), Abst 6505. http://doi.org/10.1200/JCO.2017.35.8_suppl.2