Koita Centre for Digital Oncology (KCDO)
Koita Foundation, Tata Memorial Center and National Cancer Grid - Partnership Objective
Cancer care is changing rapidly worldwide, and use of digital tools and technologies are playing a key role in driving this change – improving quality, access, and cost of care. Digital technologies are being used across the entire patient journey – screening, diagnostics, treatment, hospital care, home care and survivorship. It is imperative for India to have a strong focus on Digital Health to improve cancer care – make it more consistent, evidence based, accessible and affordable.
In 2022, Koita Foundation has partnered with Tata Memorial Center (TMC) and the National Cancer Grid (NCG) to establish the Koita Centre for Digital Oncology (KCDO), India’s first organisation dedicated to transforming cancer care in India using digital technology.
KCDO will focus on:
- Promoting the use of digital technology to improve cancer care across 280+ NCG partner hospitals in India
- Driving key initiatives like EMR adoption, data sharing, patient engagement and analytics
- Driving adoption of new technologies and best practices in digital health
- Partnering with academic and research organizations to promote research and development in cancer care
The vision of KCDO is closely aligned with NCG’s vision to deliver uniform cancer care, drive cancer research and reduce costs of cancer care across India.
MOU between National Cancer Grid, Tata Memorial Centre and Koita Foundation
August 2022
About the Koita Centre for Digital Oncology (KCDO)
The Koita Centre for Digital Oncology (KCDO – www.kcdo.in) helps NCG and NCG affiliated hospitals adopt digital health tools, drive collaboration and create digital transformation roadmaps, with the objective of improving the quality, affordability, accessibility and outcomes of cancer care to patients.
KCDO’s vision is to help NCG and NCG hospitals leverage Digital Health technologies to meaningfully improve cancer care across India. To achieve its vision, KCDO has a broad set of focus areas to help NCG, NCG Hospitals and other key ecosystem partners.
- Supporting Digital Health Initiatives within NCG Hospitals and across Patient Journey: Identifying digital best practice and digital tools across the cancer care continuum – from cancer prevention, screening & diagnostics, in-patient care, outpatient & ancillary care, to survivorship care.
- Supporting Digital Health Initiatives of NCG (across Hospitals): Develop solutions and capabilities which can be used across various NCG hospitals. Such areas will include data management, analytics and consumer health/telemedicine and training & capacity building.
- Supporting Digital engagement and collaboration with Ecosystem Partners: Develop Digital Health solutions to better collaborate with partners involved in cancer care. Such partner organizations include Digital Health Companies, Health Insurance Companies, Pharma/Life Sciences, Labs, Home Health, as well as Government and Regulatory Agencies.
To learn more about KCDO and its focus on digital oncology, please visit www.kcdo.in.
Comprehensive EMR Requirements for Cancer Care
NCG-KCDO along with oncology and healthcare technology experts have published a comprehensive set of requirements for EMRs to meet the specialized needs of cancer care - NCG EMR requirements (NER). NER provides a critical foundation capability enabling standardization and integration with other solutions addressing the cancer care continuum. The NER 2.0 incorporating industry feedback was published in March 2023.
Koita Foundation Support
Key areas of collaboration with KCDO include:
- Engaging closely to NCG hospitals to develop joint Digital Health priority areas
- Partnering with EMR companies to promote use of Electronic Medical Records in NCG Hospitals
- Supporting roll-out of the Ayushman Bharat Digital Mission (ABDM)
- Sharing best practices in Digital Health across NCG network and global best practices
- Conducting knowledge sessions, webinars, and other events to spread aware in Digital Health
- Developing capacity building programs in Digital Health for front-line NCG healthcare provider and hospital administration
- Driving collaborations with ecosystems partners
Koita Foundation: Digital Health Foundation Course for NCG
Koita Foundation and National Cancer Grid (NCG) are partnering to develop online health courses aimed at leveraging digital technology to deliver improved oncology services in India. The Digital Health Foundation Course (DHFC) will empower NCG hospitals with the skills and knowledge to improve cancer care, ensuring better patient outcomes and raising oncology standards nationwide.
To support this effort, Koita Centre for Digital Oncology (KCDO) and NCG are hosting webinars about digital health. These webinars cover important topics like how different digital systems can work together and how doctors can monitor patients remotely. These sessions are crucial for healthcare workers to learn how to use digital tools effectively in cancer care management.