Platform for Regulatory Science, Innovation, and Equitable Health Systems (PRISm)

Building learning healthcare systems to accelerate access to precision oncology across Canada

Precision oncology is already transforming cancer care for some cancer patients in Canada, but access to this potentially life-saving personalized approach differs across jurisdictions. There are many reasons for this variability, including a lack of clear evidence that allows healthcare systems to know exactly when to fund genomic tests and targeted drugs and for whom. This evidence is especially important for a public system with limited healthcare resources.

To ensure more Canadians benefit from precision oncology advances, a team of researchers funded by the Marathon of Hope Cancer Centres Network is embarking on a project to better understand the changes that need to occur at the healthcare system level so that every cancer patient can get the right treatment at the right time for their unique cancer—regardless of where they live.

Led by Dr. Dean Regier (BC Cancer/UBC), the Platform for Regulatory Science, Innovation, and Equitable Health Systems (PRISm) project unites researchers, clinicians, health economists, data scientists, regulators and patient partners to strengthen the evidence infrastructure needed to accelerate equitable access to precision oncology across Canada. The team seeks to address critical gaps that slow the translation of precision oncology innovations into routine care and find new ways to modernize regulatory science. This project will help ensure that decisions about cancer therapies in Canada are informed by timely, high-quality clinical, economic and equity evidence.

One of the ways in which the project aims to modernize healthcare systems is by developing new artificial intelligence (AI) tools that use natural language processing to automate the extraction of data elements from clinical records, making it easier to obtain and then use these data to accelerate precision oncology research. Initial work will build on real-world case studies, such as British Columbia’s Personalized OncoGenomics program, to validate scalable approaches for accelerating data curation across the Network.

By enabling decision-grade real-world evidence, PRISm will support regulators, payers, and healthcare systems in evaluating the clinical benefit, cost-effectiveness and equity impacts of precision oncology innovations.

“To improve patient access to precision oncology, we must improve our healthcare systems. Our systems need to be able to quickly capture data, share that data across provinces, produce evidence and use this evidence to guide patient care,” says Dr. Regier. “In short, they need to become Learning Healthcare Systems."

What’s a Learning Healthcare System?

A Learning Healthcare System is a system in which everyday care data is captured, analyzed and used to generate new knowledge. This knowledge is then fed back into practice to improve patient outcomes, creating a virtuous cycle that promotes efficiency and equity. Essentially, it is a system designed to become smarter with every interaction. 

By supporting initiatives studying the kinds of real-world data needed to produce high-quality real-world evidence and apply this evidence to clinical decision-making, and by promoting and enabling enhanced sharing of data within and across research and healthcare institutions, the MOHCCN aims to help facilitate learning healthcare systems’ adoption of evidence-based precision oncology.

Project Goals:

• Unite researchers and stakeholders across disciplines.
• Produce clinical, economic, and equity evidence that makes healthcare decisions easier.
• Streamline health data capture and find new ways for sharing this information across provinces.
• Mentor students and new researchers to build the next generation of experts.