Improving the Management of symPtoms during And following Cancer Treatment (IMPACT)

IMPACT Overview

The Improving the Management of symPtoms during And following Cancer Treatment (IMPACT) consortium is a program supported by funding provided through the Cancer Moonshot. It aligns with the goals of the Cancer Moonshot^SM Blue Ribbon Panel’s recommendation to “minimize cancer treatment’s debilitating side effects” (Recommendation F). Specifically, IMPACT is designed to evaluate the implementation of systematic symptom management in cancer care delivery. The consortium consists of three individual Research Centers (RCs) that are deploying integrated electronic systems to monitor and manage cancer symptoms in diverse practice settings, as well as a Coordinating Center (CC) that provides scientific expertise and logistical support to unite the consortium. The integrated electronic systems are being tested in pragmatic trials and will examine effects on patient health, treatment delivery, healthcare utilization, and implementation outcomes. The consortium aims to accelerate the adoption of systematic, scalable approaches that include routine collection of patient reported outcomes and use of those data to trigger clinical responses consistent with evidence-based guidelines.

The overall goal of IMPACT is to develop evidence that will guide efforts to improve symptom control for cancer patients during treatment and survivorship to build a foundation for effective cancer symptom management in routine clinical care.

For more information on the IMPACT consortium, please visit their website.

IMPACT Centers

Overview of Projects

• SIMPRO Research Center: A multidisciplinary team from six health systems have formed the Symptom Management IMplementation of Patient Reported Outcomes in Oncology (SIMPRO) Research Center. The overarching goal is to develop, implement, and evaluate a multi-component electronic patient reported outcomes management system to improve symptom control for patients recovering from cancer surgery or patients receiving palliative chemotherapy in small, rural, and community cancer centers.
• NU IMPACT Research Center: Northwestern University IMPACT (NU IMPACT) builds upon an integrated cancer symptom monitoring and management system (NMPRO) to test the effectiveness of a system-wide symptom management intervention when implemented across Northwestern Memorial HealthCare Corporation outpatient oncology clinics. It is made available in English and in Spanish.
• E2C2 Research Center: The Enhanced, Electronic Health Record-Facilitated Cancer Symptom Control (E2C2) pragmatic clinical trial tests a bundled intervention that leverages electronic health record interface and clinical decision support functionalities. This intervention operationalizes an approach that automatically triages symptomatic patients to automated self-management (low-touch), or nurse care management (high-touch), depending on patient reported outcomes and other patient and clinical factors.

NCI IMPACT Staff