$1.7 MILLION AWARDED FOR CANCER PATIENT-CENTERED HEALTH INFORMATION EXCHANGE
Georgia Department of Community Health and Georgia Cancer Coalition
Partner with Rome Medical Community
ATLANTA – The Georgia Department of Community Health (DCH) and the Georgia Cancer Coalition (GCC) are pleased to announce the award of a Health Information Exchange Challenge Grant from the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC). As one of only ten national awards, the $1,686,989 grant will fund a joint health information technology (health IT) project related to a “Consumer-Mediated Health Information Exchange” for cancer patients.
“The Department is very pleased to accept this grant award,” said David Cook, DCH Commissioner. “Our collaboration with the Georgia Cancer Coalition will place Georgia at the forefront of delivering patient-centered care and improving health outcomes for our citizens.”
Based in Rome (Floyd County), Georgia, the Consumer-Mediated Health Information Exchange (CMHIE) will provide the tools to give cancer patients access to their health information and enable secure two-way communications between providers and cancer patients for outcomes reporting, subsequent treatment and other health information. The CMHIE will also allow individual health data to be sent to a cancer patient’s personal health record and permit cancer patients to decide who will have access to their information.
“We are proud that this initiative will be part of the statewide health information exchange,” said Ruth Carr, State HIT Coordinator and Senior Deputy General Counsel for DCH. “The investment of internal resources in this project by Rome’s medical community is remarkable.”
The CMHIE project will be a model that can be replicated in other medical communities in Georgia and across the country. It will involve the following members of the Rome medical community:
Harbin Clinic – a large multi-specialist physician practice
Floyd Medical Center – a non-profit community hospital
Redmond Regional Medical Center – a for-profit hospital affiliated with Hospital Corporation of America
These three organizations have a history of collaboration to improve cancer care for the Rome, Georgia community. In 2000, they formed the Rome-Floyd Cancer Initiative and in 2002, the Northwest Georgia Regional Cancer Coalition. Their involvement was also instrumental in the development of the GCC-funded Georgia Cancer Quality Information Exchange, an initiative that measures and improves the quality of cancer care in the state.
The Rome medical community has been aggressive in their adoption of electronic health records. The GCC is working with this group to connect to the statewide health information exchange. The Georgia Health Information Exchange, Inc., a non-profit organization, is the governing body for the statewide network.
“The GCC is excited to partner with DCH in this effort to bring the advantages of consumer-mediated health information exchange to the cancer patients in the Rome, Georgia community,” added Bill Todd, President of the GCC. “Rome’s cancer survivors will be among the first in the nation to have access to and control over their health information in a secure environment. The awarding of this grant is the culmination of years of collaboration among the healthcare providers in Rome and Floyd County and represents an opportunity for the community to be a leader in the state as well as in the nation in the area of health information exchange.”
$1.7 MILLION AWARDED FOR CANCER PATIENT-CENTERED HEALTH INFORMATION EXCHANGE
ATLANTA – The Georgia Department of Community Health (DCH) and the Georgia Cancer Coalition (GCC) are pleased to announce the award of a Health Information Exchange Challenge Grant from the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC). As one of only ten national awards, the $1,686,989 grant will fund a joint health information technology (health IT) project related to a “Consumer-Mediated Health Information Exchange” for cancer patients.
“The Department is very pleased to accept this grant award,” said David Cook, DCH Commissioner. “Our collaboration with the Georgia Cancer Coalition will place Georgia at the forefront of delivering patient-centered care and improving health outcomes for our citizens.”
Based in Rome (Floyd County), Georgia, the Consumer-Mediated Health Information Exchange (CMHIE) will provide the tools to give cancer patients access to their health information and enable secure two-way communications between providers and cancer patients for outcomes reporting, subsequent treatment and other health information. The CMHIE will also allow individual health data to be sent to a cancer patient’s personal health record and permit cancer patients to decide who will have access to their information.
“We are proud that this initiative will be part of the statewide health information exchange,” said Ruth Carr, State HIT Coordinator and Senior Deputy General Counsel for DCH. “The investment of internal resources in this project by Rome’s medical community is remarkable.”
The CMHIE project will be a model that can be replicated in other medical communities in Georgia and across the country. It will involve the following members of the Rome medical community:
• Harbin Clinic – a large multi-specialist physician practice
• Floyd Medical Center – a non-profit community hospital
• Redmond Regional Medical Center – a for-profit hospital affiliated with Hospital Corporation of America
These three organizations have a history of collaboration to improve cancer care for the Rome, Georgia community. In 2000, they formed the Rome-Floyd Cancer Initiative and in 2002, the Northwest Georgia Regional Cancer Coalition. Their involvement was also instrumental in the development of the GCC-funded Georgia Cancer Quality Information Exchange, an initiative that measures and improves the quality of cancer care in the state.
The Rome medical community has been aggressive in their adoption of electronic health records. The GCC is working with this group to connect to the statewide health information exchange. The Georgia Health Information Exchange, Inc., a non-profit organization, is the governing body for the statewide network.
“The GCC is excited to partner with DCH in this effort to bring the advantages of consumer-mediated health information exchange to the cancer patients in the Rome, Georgia community,” added Bill Todd, President of the GCC. “Rome’s cancer survivors will be among the first in the nation to have access to and control over their health information in a secure environment. The awarding of this grant is the culmination of years of collaboration among the healthcare providers in Rome and Floyd County and represents an opportunity for the community to be a leader in the state as well as in the nation in the area of health information exchange.”
TWELVE HONORED WITH 2011 CANCER RESEARCH AWARDS
Twelve cancer researchers have been selected by the Georgia Cancer Coalition (GCC) as recipients of the 2011 Cancer Research Awards, made possible through voluntary donations to the Georgia Cancer Research Fund on State Income Tax forms over a two-year period. Each awardee will receive $50,000, for a total of $600,000 in funding.
More than 70 proposals were received from researchers across the state; each award is matched by the awardee’s organizations. Cancer Research Awards often provide seed money for pilot studies which have the potential of attracting larger, more prestigious national grant awards. Recipients include:
Clark Atlanta University: Shafiq A. Khan, Ph.D., Professor, Department of Biological Sciences;
Emory University: Christopher R. Flowers, M.D., Assistant Professor, Hematology/Medical Oncology and Adjunct Assistant Professor, Industrial and Systems Engineering, Georgia Tech; Tongzhong Ju, M.D., Ph.D., Assistant Professor, Biochemistry; Sumin Kang, Ph.D., Assistant Professor, Hematology/Medical Oncology; Erwin G. Van Meir, Professor, Neurosurgery and Hematology/Medical Oncology; and Winifred W. Thompson, Ph.D., Assistant Research Professor, Behavioral Sciences and Health Education, Woodruff Health Sciences Center;
Georgia Tech: Ali Adibi, Ph.D., Professor, Optics and Photonics; and Elizabeth Mynatt, Ph.D., Professor and Associate Dean, Computing.
Medical College of Georgia: Darren D. Browning, Ph.D., Associate Professor, Biochemistry
Mercer University: Hailing Zhang, Ph.D. and Chalet Tan, Ph.D., both Assistant Professors of Pharmaceutical Sciences; and
University of Georgia: Rabindranath De La Fuente, D.V.M, MSc., Ph.D., Associate Professor, Physiology and Pharmacology, College of Veterinary Medicine, University of Georgia.
Georgians can make a contribution of $1 or more on their State Income Tax form to the Georgia Cancer Research Fund, by indicating a donation amount on Line 28 on Form 500 or Line 12 on form 500 EZ.
“These research awards are an important investment in our state’s scientists,” says Bill Todd, President and Chief Executive Officer of the Georgia Cancer Coalition. “With matching funds and potential for additional national funding, we are making a major contribution to cancer research in the state. We owe the program’s success to our citizens who support the drive to eradicate cancer.”
Since the 2000 inception of the State Income Tax Checkoff program, $2.75 million has been raised for cancer research, resulting in more than $5 million in cancer research funding. Seventy three awards have been made possible by these generous contributions of Georgia’s citizens. A committee comprised of leading cancer researchers and clinicians conducted the competitive, peer-reviewed grant process.
For more information on Georgia’s Income Tax Checkoff program to benefit cancer research, go to the Georgia Cancer Coalition website at www.georgiacancer.org or call 404-584-7720.
THREE COMMUNITY LEADERS JOIN BOARD OF TRUSTEES
Philip W. Tomlinson, Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer of TSYS, Total Systems Services, headquartered in Columbus, Georgia; Dorothy Jordan, a psychiatric clinical nurse specialist who founded Camp Sunshine for children with cancer; and Kathy Betty, owner and managing partner of the Atlanta Dream, will join the Board of Trustees of the Georgia Cancer Coalition effective January 1, 2011. The Board provides governance, strategic direction and fiscal oversight for the Coalition, whose mission is to reduce the number of cancer deaths in the state by accelerating cancer prevention, detection, treatment and research.
“We are thrilled to have three such talented Georgians join an already strong Board of Trustees. Each is a well-known business and civic leader respected across the state, and each has had cancer touch their lives. The staff will benefit greatly from their insights and wise counsel,” says Bill Todd, GCC President and Chief Executive Officer. “These board members bring to the table a wealth of experience in management, fundraising, building collaborations, and strategic planning. We are fortunate to have their support and involvement,” says Kathelen V. Amos, GCC Board Chairman and President of the Aflac Foundation.
SIX RESEARCHERS NAMED 2010 CANCER RESEARCH AWARDEES
Six cancer researchers have been selected by the Georgia Cancer Coalition (GCC) as recipients of the 2010 Cancer Research Awards, made possible through voluntary donations to the Georgia Cancer Research Fund on State Income Tax forms.
Awardees, selected from twelve proposals, include:
Khalid Salaita, Ph.D., an Assistant Professor in the Department of Chemistry at Emory University, studying Notch signaling in breast cancer. This grant will ultimately help generate preliminary data critical to applying for National Cancer Institute (NCI) and National Institutes of Health (NIH) grants.
Yuan Liu, Ph.D., an Assistant Professor in the Department of Biology, Division of Cellular Molecular Biology and Physiology at Georgia State University, studying the inflammatory response in colon cancer.
Ravi Bellamkonda, Ph.D., a GCC Scholar and a Professor of Biomedical Engineering at Georgia Tech, studying how to mark brain tumor margins using a dye visible to the naked eye, so as to provide accurate visual cues to the surgeon during surgery.
Muthusamy Thangaraju, Ph.D., an Assistant Professor at the Medical College of Georgia, who will use these funds to continue to study breast cancer biology in the area of tumor suppressor genes and signaling mechanisms related to breast cancer.
Robert McKallip, Ph.D., an Assistant Professor of Immunology in the Division of Basic Medical Sciences at Mercer University School of Medicine in Macon, who is studying new adjuvant therapies for treating malignant melanoma. This grant will help develop the data necessary to support his study’s hypothesis, thus strengthening his proposal for an NIH award.
Zachary Wood, Ph.D., an Assistant Professor in the Department of Biochemistry at the University of Georgia in Athens, studying how to slow metastasis and prevent drug resistance in colorectal and lung cancer. Preliminary data from this study will make a grant application to NIH more competitive.
Each scientist will receive a one-year, $50,000 grant. This is the first year that Cancer Research Awards were made available to study all types of cancer. Legislation passed in 2009 removed prior restrictions to research in the areas of breast, prostate, or ovarian cancer.
“These research awards are important to our state’s scientists,” says Bill Todd, President and Chief Executive Officer of the Georgia Cancer Coalition. “It is a testament to the growing focus on cancer research among Georgia’s clinical and research investigators. We owe the program’s success to our citizens who support the drive to eradicate cancer.”
Since the 2000 inception of the State Income Tax Checkoff program, $2.75 million has been raised for cancer research, which is matched by each researcher’s organization. Sixty-one awards have been made possible by these generous contributions of Georgia’s citizens. A committee comprised of leading cancer researchers and clinicians conducted the competitive, peer-reviewed grant process.
For more information on Georgia’s Income Tax Checkoff program to benefit cancer research, go to the Georgia Cancer Coalition website at www.georgiacancer.org or call 404-584-7720.
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