New portal improves cancer patient care with rapid access to treatment team and services

Margery Pask of Ithaca is one of the Cayuga Cancer Center’s patients who began using the Noona patient portal last fall and found the system easy to use.

“It gives me fast, convenient access to essential information from my care team. When I’ve had a question, I hear back in less than an hour,” she says. “I’m getting chemotherapy at CMC and obtaining timely, accurate information reduces the patient concerns that can arise from that treatment.”

The Noona technology uses either desktop or mobile platforms. Along with an appointment calendar with reminders, patients can use the portal to contact their care team, link to care resources, and exchange secure communications with their care teams. Providers use the Noona portal to gather patient experiences to evaluate treatment progress and identify potential changes. The new care management software was developed by Varian Medical Systems, which made the advanced medical linear accelerator installed last summer at the Cayuga Cancer Center.

The Noona system integrates and coordinates key elements of complex cancer care in a single computer-accessed site. A patient’s multidisciplinary care teams across treatment sites and departments can gather and share information on radiation, medical and surgical oncology treatments, test results, clinical research, and outcomes. 

The portal provides patients with links to educational materials, medical records, access to patient forums, social services support programs, survivorship planning and ongoing communication with their care team. Patients can report symptoms, respond to questionnaires, and communicate with their care team as often as they would like.

By aggregating timely data on a patient’s progress, care providers make better decisions on treatments, while keeping the patient engaged and better informed during their care and after finishing their treatments.

Among Noona’s key features are:

• Real-time symptom reporting scheduled questionnaires and patient access to their medical records.
• Patients can report symptoms, respond to questionnaires and communicate with their care team as often as they would like.
• Care teams collect highly specific, detailed information tailored to a patient’s diagnosis and treatment type for more informed decision making.

For more articles on cancer care at the Cayuga Cancer Center, see the current issue of Cayuga Heath magazine at cayugahealthmagazine.org. For information on the Cayuga Cancer Center, call (607) 272-5414.