Technology Helps Patients Get Care Faster

UVA Health System’s Head and Neck Cancer Program is using technology to improve patient care and begin a tailored treatment plan earlier.

Doctors are using secure videoconferencing technology to create a virtual head and neck cancer clinic. This new system allows UVA doctors in multiple locations to discuss a case by video and examine patients with an endoscope before a biopsy is scheduled.

“This new program should dramatically improve the quality of a patient’s experience at UVA,” says radiation oncologist Paul Read, MD, PhD “Anything we can do to condense the time from ‘we know you have a problem’ to ‘we start treating it,’ the better.”

“This new system allows us to move faster at the initial evaluation to get patients to treatment” says Mark Jameson, MD, PhD, a head and neck oncologic and reconstructive surgeon at UVA.

“If a patient comes in complaining of a sore throat, we can use an endoscope and examine the larynx,” he says. “ If we see cancer, our radiation and medical oncologists are right there via video. They can see the problem on their computer screen and help us work with the patient to determine the right course of treatment.”

Another benefit for patients is reducing the number of appointments, cutting down on stress and travel time. The virtual clinic also lets patients get to know the team of UVA doctors who’ll be treating them.

The pilot program began in June 2009 and was developed by the Head and Neck Cancer Team, led by Paul A. Levine, MD, FACS, chair of UVA’s Department of Otolaryngology - Head and Neck Surgery.

“We know our quality of care for head and neck cancer is excellent,” Levine says. “Now we want the ease of care to be equal to the quality. We will never lose the direct personal contact that is important to patient care, but this is a more efficient way to get the process started.”

Every year, UVA clinicians treat more than 200 new patients with head and neck cancer from throughout Virginia and the Mid-Atlantic.