e-IMPAQc Systematic Assessment of Patient Reported Outcomes in Cancer Care

Purpose: The Electronic Implementation of Patient and Caregiver Reported Outcomes across cancer centres in Quebec project, or e-IMPAQc, was launched in 2017. e-IMPAQc's goal is to actively engage patients, their caregivers, healthcare professionals (HCPs), managers, policy makers, researchers and IT personnel to co-develop, implement, and evaluate an evidence-informed electronic patient-reported outcomes (e-PRO) screening and management program across Quebec. Methods: e-IMPAQc built on the Improving Patient Experience and Health Outcomes Collaborative (iPEHOC) project, the first initiative in the province to implement e-PRO screening and was rolled out in three phases. e-IMPAQc has five main components: 1) primary and secondary standardized e-PRO questionnaires and algorithm; 2) summary report for clinicians with alert system; 3) summary report for patients, with tailored notifications regarding symptom severity; 4) self-management fact sheets library; and 5) clinical dashboard. Phase 1 included initiating change management and the co-development of the e-PRO algorithm with patients, their caregivers, HCPs, managers, policy makers, researchers and IT personnel (herein collectively referred as stakeholders) across seven cancer centres. The iPEHOC algorithm was used as a starting point given its successful implementation in one of the participating cancer centres for several years. Phase 1 also included feasibility work to establish a caregiver-reported outcomes (CROs) algorithm as well as the identification and configuration of appropriate electronic platforms on which to house e-IMPAQc. In Phase 2 the focus was on preparing for imminent implementation through workflow mapping and putting in place implementation support (e.g., site coordinators). A pilot of e-IMPAQc (excluding CROs) was also undertaken at one of the participating centres. In Phase 3, e-IMPAQc is being sequentially rolled out to as many cancer centres as possible and then evaluated. Qualitative and q