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National Oncology Alliance Launches 'EDUCATE' Study Inviting Community-Based Oncology Practices to Participate

Posted on: Tuesday, 1 November 2005, 09:01 CST

SAN RAFAEL, Calif., Nov. 1 /PRNewswire/ -- The National Oncology Alliance (NOA), a member-based specialty oncology GPO wholly owned by Broadlane, announced the launch of its national Educating Clinicians To Achieve Treatment Guideline Effectiveness (EDUCATE) Study, inviting community-based oncology practices to participate in this groundbreaking study about supportive care guidelines in oncology.

"The objective of this study is to evaluate whether an educational intervention improves adherence to evidence-based treatment guidelines and whether that improvement clinically impacts patient outcomes," said Kim Bergstrom, Pharm.D., vice president, clinical services, NOA and study principal investigator. "We hope that clinical education will have a positive impact on patient outcomes related to supportive care and the appropriate use of growth factors in patients undergoing chemotherapy in the community-based oncology setting."

Target medical practice participants include physicians, nurse practitioners, nurses, pharmacists, or other prescribers. The study is seeking to recruit approximately 50 oncology community-based oncology practices across six geographical regions nationally and will be randomized to either the educational intervention group or a control group.

Benefits of Participation: * Receipt of 12 months of education, including continuing education credit, Web-based training, patient education tools and onsite seminars * The opportunity to implement standardized orders to assess and appropriately manage anemia and neutropenia * The opportunity to receive practice-specific data about their own treatment and prescribing patterns as compared with national benchmarks * Acknowledgement as a study participant in peer-reviewed articles

"National guidelines for the appropriate management of anemia and neutropenia have been available for many years, yet studies have not been able to confirm that their presence alone changes behavior. The EDUCATE Study is meant to take guideline adherence to a new level and determine whether active and ongoing education can improve both guideline adherence and patient outcomes," said Dr. Linda Bosserman with Wilshire Oncology Medical Group in California. "The appropriate use of red and white blood cell growth factors can reduce the occurrence of adverse effects, improve chemotherapy delivery, reduce hospital costs and enhance the quality of life for cancer patients. This study will help determine whether guidelines and education work."

All education is based on NOA's Treatment Guidelines, a set of nationally recognized, evidence-based standards with practical applications for community oncologists. The NOA guidelines are consistent with the ASCO/ASH and NCCN guidelines. Patient charts will be reviewed at the start of the study and again at the end. Ovation Research Group will provide overall project support and data management and analysis. The study is being supported by Amgen.

Practice Inclusion Criteria: * Is a NOA community-based medical- or GYN-oncology practice * Has one or more prescribers that treat cancer patients with chemotherapy and supportive care agents in the office * Is willing to be randomized into either study group * Sees at least 150 new patients per year * Has at least one full-time nurse in treatment area * Can identify and make available sequentially eligible patient charts How to Participate:

Practices interested in participating in the EDUCATE Study or seeking more information can call 866.466.2462 or visit http://www.noainc.com/.

About National Oncology Alliance

National Oncology Alliance, a wholly owned subsidiary of Broadlane, Inc., is a national, best-in-class, specialty oncology GPO that provides essential clinical and business information, resources and insight to help its members transform the business of oncology. With NOA, oncology practices have the confidence of working with a stable and progressive partner that will guide them through industry changes and help them develop thriving businesses, enabling them to buy smarter, diversify revenue, enhance quality care, minimize risk and streamline business so they can focus on critical patient care.

More information about NOA can be found at http://www.noainc.com/. About Broadlane

Broadlane is the group procurement services company for healthcare. Through a comprehensive set of proven procurement processes, Broadlane helps healthcare providers go further to reduce costs and improve financial performance. The company's signature service is group purchasing; its numerous other services include strategic procurement planning, departmental cost management, and labor sourcing and utilization. Broadlane's innovative technology yields data-driven solutions, which are implemented by an expert staff with deep clinical and operational experience.

Broadlane serves thousands of acute care hospitals, sub-acute care facilities and physician practices across the country. The company is headquartered in San Francisco with offices in California, New York, Ohio and Texas. For more information, visit http://www.broadlane.com/.

About Ovation Research Group

Ovation Research Group is an independent health care consulting firm with offices in suburban Chicago and in San Francisco. Serving a broad base of clients, including pharmaceutical, biotechnology, and medical device companies and other organizations in the health field, Ovation designs and conducts disease and product registries, comprehensive prospective and retrospective statistical analyses in pharmacoeconomics and quality of life research, and other health outcomes research. For more information, please visit http://www.ovation.org/.

Contact: David McAdam

415-844-7300

National Oncology Alliance

CONTACT: David McAdam, +1-415-844-7300, for the National OncologyAlliance

Web site: http://www.ovation.org/

Web site: http://www.broadlane.com/

Web site: http://www.noainc.com/

Source: PRNewswire

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