Getting Chemotherapy Right for Every Veteran

The Department of Veteran Affairs (VA) Central Cancer Registry (VACCR) reports more than forty thousand cancer cases are reported annually, which is approximately three percent of the United States cancer population each year. The Veterans Health Administration (VHA) currently has about 115 medical facilities providing chemotherapy oncology services, but they lack an enterprise “standard of care” for patient chemotherapy ordering capabilities.  Chemotherapy patients require highly complex treatment regimens thus the high susceptibility toward adverse drug reactions (ADR) which are among the most frequent causes of death in industrialized countries.

Studies have shown that each year an estimated 770,000 people are injured or die in hospitals from ADRs, which are injuries resulting from drug use. Approximately 28 percent of ADRs are associated with a medication error, and therefore could be prevented. And 56 percent of all preventable ADRs occurred during drug ordering.

Although almost 50 percent of the VA Medical Facilities have invested in software solutions, many are still using written notes and excel spreadsheets to administer and track patient chemotherapy. Because human error occurs, this virtually guarantees ADRs. Therefore, 41 VA Medical Centers in 11 Veterans Integrated Service Networks have implemented or are in the process of implementing VistA Chemotherapy Manager (VCM) from DSS, Inc.

VCM is a clinical decision support tool designed to automate the entire chemotherapy treatment process. It leverages a highly intuitive, user-friendly interface to provide the full range of automated chemotherapy administration and advanced safety features required by oncology providers, nurses and pharmacists. VCM is also compatible with any Electronic Health Record system.

We commend the leaders of these 41 medical centers and VISNs for implementing this advanced software tool to better serve their cancer patients. But 74 VA facilities remain that are not using this automated tool to ensure accurate chemotherapy procedures. We urge the VA to implement a comprehensive adoption of VCM across all its cancer facilities.

For more information on our innovative solutions that improve care quality and delivery for our Veterans, CLICK HERE.