How can implementing a cancer risk assessment program enhance service capacity and financial sustainability?
In a discussion with Maritess Caamic, director of the Cancer Institute and Infusion Services at Advocate Illinois Masonic Medical Center, she shared insights on how their Chicago-based medical center successfully built a profitable and high-capacity risk assessment program in partnership with CancerIQ.
Many imaging centers and healthcare providers are asking similar questions:
Here’s what we learned.
According to Caamic, the first step in launching and scaling a successful risk assessment program was recognizing that genetic assessment is an essential component of a comprehensive, multidisciplinary cancer care strategy.
To support their patients and provide high-quality preventive care, Advocate Illinois integrated genetic counseling into their service offerings. But would this be a true differentiator for the program?
Advocate thought so. Located in Chicago, where it competes with major academic medical centers, Advocate Illinois sought to bring academic-level genetic services to a community healthcare setting—offering a unique, patient-centered alternative to large institutions.
Before scaling their program, Advocate Illinois needed to address operational inefficiencies that impacted their genetic counselor’s experience and patient throughput. Their key challenges included:
To solve these issues, Advocate invested in risk assessment software, streamlining workflows to improve both staff and patient experiences.
Genetic counseling is not a primary revenue driver for most cancer centers. However, Caamic recognized that in order to offer cutting-edge care, it was crucial to provide state-of-the-art tools for risk assessment, navigation, and patient monitoring.
By implementing risk assessment software, Advocate was able to:
Since genetic programs are relatively new in many cancer centers, they often aren’t accounted for in standard budgets. To justify the investment, Advocate evaluated:
Through its partnership with CancerIQ, Advocate increased patient capacity from 400 to 700 per year without adding staff or purchasing costly new equipment—aside from two tablets.
When selecting a risk assessment platform, Advocate prioritized:
Additionally, Advocate needed a quick implementation due to months of downtime after losing their genetic counselor. CancerIQ was fully operational within a week, with just one day of training and two days of follow-up support.
Beyond software capabilities, Advocate sought a partner that could collaborate to improve patient outcomes. With CancerIQ, they:
To ensure seamless adoption, Advocate Illinois equipped their clinic with two tablets:
The result? 85% of patients now complete their assessments before their first appointment, with minimal staff assistance required.
Advocate Illinois has seen a positive return on investment within the first year and is now working to:
For Advocate, seamless collaboration between CancerIQ and their EMR system is essential. While full integration may be explored in the future, CancerIQ currently serves as the primary tool for:
Since implementing CancerIQ, Advocate has:
Advocate Illinois showcases how technology-driven cancer risk assessment can drive profitability, efficiency, and patient-centered care.
Through its partnership with CancerIQ, Advocate:
✅ Doubled its patient volume
✅ Increased preventive care revenue
✅ Expanded access to genetic counseling and risk assessment
This post was originally published on CancerIQ's blog on Oct 18, 2019
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