Ochsner Health System and Pfizer Inc, today announced it has entered into a multi-year strategic alliance to develop innovative models for clinical trials that will explore ways to enhance the clinical trial experience and ease participation in clinical research for both patients and healthcare professionals. Through its innovation lab, innovationOchsner (iO), in partnership with Oschner Research, the alliance aims to create faster, improved access and connectivity to clinical trials for patients, with the ultimate goal of better experiences and outcomes.
Ochsner-Pfizer Alliance: Optimizing The Clinical Trials Experience
Participating patients will have the opportunity to test out new digital tools designed to make the clinical trial experience more inclusive and enjoyable. Participating clinicians will benefit from reduced manual data entry as a result of direct data system integration and automated study conduct tools, freeing up time and work to allow them to offer clinical research as an option to a broader range of patients. In addition, research groups will experience efficiencies from interoperability that may lower costs while increasing capacity. These projects are designed to ensure that all data collected is secure and will only be used with patient consent, as in any clinical trial.
Oschner/Pfizer Alliance’s First “Proof of Value” Project
The strategic alliance’s first project began with a “proof of value” phase in which researchers successfully transferred mock data (e.g. no actual patient data was used or shared) from Ochsner’s Epic EHR system to Pfizer’s electronic data capture system used in Pfizer clinical trials. The proof of value project’s goal is to understand the gaps and variances between data collected in electronic health records and patient-reported data from clinical trials.
Building A Model for Applying FHIR Standards to Clinical Trial Data
integrating EHR data into clinical trial databases has been a goal of research institutions, industry and regulators that would reduce the burden of manual data entry, save time, decrease cost and accelerate clinical trials. The ongoing challenge has been exchanging data between healthcare systems and clinical trial systems because each uses different technology platforms and data standards. In recent years,
In recent years, Fast Healthcare Interoperability Resources, or FHIR®, a standard developed by the nonprofit organization Health Level Seven International (HL7), has been introduced as a secure and open solution for healthcare data exchange to accelerate information sharing. Most health apps use FHIR data standards, but FHIR has yet to be adopted for data exchange in industry-sponsored clinical trials. The Ochsner-Pfizer alliance project aims to build a model for applying FHIR standards so that high-quality clinical trial data may be collected consistently, reliably and securely within hospital and clinic electronic systems.
“We’re pleased that we succeeded in transferring core data types collected in healthcare provider electronic health records to Pfizer’s clinical trial data capture system using FHIR standards. To the best of our knowledge, this is a first for our industry,” explains Rob Goodwin, Vice President, Operations Center of Excellence, Global Product Development at Pfizer. “There is more work ahead, but this is a significant step forward in simplifying data capture for clinical trials, and the first of many pioneering solutions we hope to develop through our partnership with Ochsner.”
Future Ochsner-Pfizer Alliance Project
During the next phase, Pfizer and Ochsner will continue to develop new ways to digitize the patient and clinician experience in clinical trials, with attention to patient preferences on access to and use of their health data and with an overarching goal of enhancing the quality and value of clinical research interactions for all participants.
