Users of Varian's Aria oncology information system (OIS) will be introduced to a new tool, InSightive Analytics, at ASTRO 2014.
September 10, 2014 — Varian Medical Systems will introduce InSightive Analytics, a new interactive dashboard and data visualization tool for oncology professionals, at the annual meeting of the American Society for Radiation Oncology (ASTRO) Sept. 14-17 in San Francisco.
InSightive Analytics will enable users of Varian's Aria oncology information system (OIS) to quickly access, organize and analyze data captured during clinical and administrative operations in radiation oncology. Prebuilt templates within the tool allow quick organization and display of key healthcare metrics across the hospital, clinic or network. Data can be collected on payer mix, referral sources, patient zip codes, operational performance, patient volume, case mix per treatment unit, physician volumes and more. Data can be benchmarked against historical data for trend analysis, and reports can be exported as Excel or Adobe PDF files and email messages.
"Aria is a robust practice management system and electronic medical record with a tremendous amount of information that can be mined and analyzed to enhance the quality of care and the efficiency of clinical operations at any given site," said Sukhveer Singh, vice president of Varian's Oncology Continuum Solutions. "Many customers use Aria to become paperless clinics, so all the information that once went into paper charts is now entered into the Aria system. Aria also offers many interfaces for importing data from other hospital information systems, resulting in a very rich resource that, up to now, was difficult to mine for actionable knowledge. InSightive Analytics provides access to this data, making it visible and useful."
InSightive Analytics will enable users to discover important patterns and trends quickly so they can make more informed data-driven decisions. Users can preprogram dashboards to generate reports on a routine schedule. Graphs and tables can be exported for presentation. According to Singh, it will be especially useful for cancer center administrators who need to manage resources.
"Often departmental administrators are trying to make important decisions based on Medicare billing data that might be weeks or months old, and often only includes some 40-60 percent of the patient population," said Singh. "With InSightive Analytics drawing directly from the Aria database as patients receive their treatments, it will be possible to aggregate up-to-date information and use it to identify opportunities and strategies for enhancing clinical, operational and financial outcomes."
"We know that today's cancer care professionals, like all medical practitioners, are under pressure to control healthcare costs while improving coordination and quality outcomes. Having access to the right information at the right time has never been more essential," said Kolleen Kennedy, president of Varian's Oncology Systems business. "As a tool that leverages new developments in informatics and big data mining, InSightive Analytics is designed to help our customers deliver high-quality, evidence-based care."
InSightive Analytics is a work in progress and not yet available for sale.
For more information: www.varian.com
March 28, 2024 
