CIO Bulletin

We provide research-backed technology to make mental health distress screening easy, cost effective: Patient Planning Services

Cancer Support Community (CSC), a global nonprofit organization that strives to reduce the costs of cancer and remove obstacles to care via community and individual support, education, and advocacy, launched Patient Planning Services (PPS) in 2013 as a social enterprise.

PPS was initially created as a technology division to provide the CSC’s unique research content, but it soon began developing a bigger SaaS platform to aid oncology facilities in streamlining social work and behavioral health service lines and meeting accreditation requirements. Although the company has expanded and greatly varied the services it offers since it was founded in 2013, its overarching goal of assisting the Cancer Support Community has not changed.

In order to support CSC in its mission to ensure that all individuals impacted by cancer are empowered by knowledge, strengthened by action, and sustained by community, PPS continues to be mission-driven and acts as one of the fee for service arms for CSC through licensing of proprietary tools and technology.

PPS has expanded to serve more than 50 US markets and two Canadian markets and has been used as a tool for digitally streamlining chronic illness assessments so that both patients and providers may utilize it easily. Leaning on partnerships to expand product offerings, engage additional groups, and provide emotional support to those who are medically underserved may have been the company’s most significant growth.

My Care Report, the primary platform used by PPS, contains several assessments (some commercial and some open source). The intention is to incorporate patient and caregiver input into the care plan and the care team’s communication processes. The platform assists in identifying the patient and caregivers main concerns, those who are most at risk from a psychological standpoint, and to identify significant barriers to care.

PPS views all their innovation from a patient-first viewpoint and works with “boots on the ground” partners in design and implementation, allowing for cultural modifications where applicable and customizing according to staff size, bandwidth, and need.

PPS also works to find care gaps, and one for which they are most recently proud is the launch of the first validated cancer caregiver distress screener on their platform that fills a large gap in the current landscape. PPS has the honor and good fortune to collaborate with the CSC Research and Training Institute to guarantee the scientific rigor of their products and their support by cutting-edge psychological, behavioral, and survival research.

The company’s platform is special because in addition to the screeners, they integrated an automated referral and resource system so that patients can access local and professional resources immediately, providers can get real-time referrals based on their specialties, and high-risk alerts can be sent to the appropriate staff members for issues like depression, anxiety, and suicidal ideation. For both patients and providers, having an “on demand” product in a “on demand” culture has been tremendously alluring.

Patients and caregivers have benefited from PPS’ capacity to immediately address their own recognized needs by feeling supported, heard, and participative in their treatment.When asked if PPS believes in specialization or diversification, they said, “While we were oncology specific for the first several years of our existence, as a company, we have learned that our platform is customizable, easy to use and that we can access patients and caregivers in their homes, on the go or in hospitals and centers. We built out email and SMS capabilities, Electronic Medical Record integration capabilities and have maintained rigorous security and HIPAA standards.”

“We also learned that we have a vehicle that can effectively assess and refer in less than ten minutes. While we believe highly in adding diverse product lines to our platform to address multi-specialty needs, we are also keenly aware not to spread resources too thin. While we have worked hard in one area, nothing is “cookie cutter.” To honor the diversity of our clients and their patients and caregiver needs we can diversify if it does not impede the quality of our service and customization.”

Speaking of the importance of their flagship screener on the platform, The CancerSupportSource^®, is a community-based distress screening, referral, and support program for adults diagnosed with cancer; and CancerSupportSource^®-Caregiver, the first and only cancer caregiver distress screening, referral, and support program for family and informal cancer caregivers.

The objective of the CSS^® program is to quickly discover and address unmet needs, making it easier for patients, providers, and caregivers to manage care and treatment, engage in self-care, and improve wellbeing.

Through online surveys, that included the opinions of cancer patients and caregivers from all around the United States, the measures were thoroughly psychometrically tested.

The tool complies with the requirements for accreditation set forth by the American College of Surgeons Commission on Cancer, the American Society of Clinical Oncology, the Enhanced Oncology Care Model, and the National Comprehensive Cancer Network’s distress screening recommendations.

PPS continues to engage in partnerships with healthcare institutions in traditional health settings for patients and caregivers. Their partnership with the CSC network of 190 locations allows them to have some hyper-local engagement across the country in communities that may struggle to access large hospital systems. Finally, their business-to-business partnerships with complimentary services like the National Rural Oncology Collaborative, digital health services like their technology partner Equiva Health and CSC electronic patient reported outcomes partner Carevive, as well as PPS partners like the NIH NCI and NIMH have helped them grow their reach not only in regards to geography, but also into areas and populations that have many barriers to accessing equitable psychosocial and emotional support. They are constantly innovating and “building a better mouse trap” as well as listening to their clients and their users so they can adapt and make their SaaS a truly collaborative vehicle to bring the patient and caregiver experience to the care teams in a way that allows for actionable resource allocation.

Cate O’Reilly, MSW Vice President, Patient Planning Services

Cate O’Reilly has worked at PPS since 2016. Cate is highly motivated, with a successful track record in sales, leadership, relationship building and partnerships in the healthcare industry. She is an analytical and creative professional, particularly skilled in identifying needs and opportunities for market expansion. Cate Has worked over the last two and a half decades internationally and in the United States in several areas of healthcare.

Sally Werner, RN, BSN, MSHA, Chief Experience Officer, Cancer Support Community

Sally Werner, formerly CEO of a Cancer Support Community affiliate, has worked at CSC headquarters since November of 2017, when she joined the team as Senior Vice President overseeing CSC’s network of partners. She holds a bachelor’s degree in nursing and a master’s degree in health administration.

As Chief Experience Officer since early 2022, Sally has the distinct pleasure of supporting all aspects of service delivery at CSC. This includes its health equity initiatives, network partners, cancer helpline, educational and training offerings, program development, as well as Patient Planning Services, the social enterprise for CSC. Sally and her team ensure that the mission of CSC’s Institute for Excellence in Psychosocial Care is carried out with fidelity in local communities across the globe.