CCTS played a lead role in the implementation of the OnCore Enterprise clinical trials management system (CTMS) at the Hub, replacing SiteMinder, which was officially retired at the end of September 2018.

The OnCore Team, which drew on the expertise of staff from the CCTS Clinical Research Support Program (CRSP), the Clinical Trials Administrative Office, and the Hub’s Health System Information Services, migrated 274 protocols and their associated patient records from SiteMinder to OnCore in three waves over the past year. CRSP trained more than 270 individual users on OnCore within the same period and provided leadership to several working groups focused on budgeting, financials, protocols, reporting and administration, and subject management.

Improved CTMS Processes Benefit Patients, Clinicians, and Research

OnCore sends protocol and patient information to the UAB electronic health record (Cerner’s IMPACT) through PowerTrials. When a new patient is registered to a clinical trial in OnCore, their medical record in IMPACT is associated with the protocol and an indicator that the patient is on a study is displayed in the banner bar of their chart. Clinicians are now able to click on this link to view study information and relevant contact information for the principal investigator and study coordinator for the trial in the Research Summary.

Research summaries contain key information that is useful at the point of care and for clinical care providers who are treating patients enrolled in clinical trials. More than 470 protocols and their associated patients have been sent from OnCore to Cerner, and order sets (aka PowerPlans) to support study implementation are continually being built.

In announcing the singular achievement, CCTS Director Dr. Robert Kimberly thanked the OnCore Team for its “superb collaboration,” the super users for assisting the OnCore team by providing “at-the-elbow implementation support,” and the department sponsors, who served as critical links between the OnCore Team and the department administrators and chairs.

Next Steps

Version 15, an OnCore upgrade, is coming early next year and will bring new features and functionality, particularly in the financials area. Once again, CRSP will play a key role in the implementation.

Editor’s Note: Many thanks to John Sandefur, OnCore Initiative Team Leader, for key contributions to this news brief.