NEWS
Owensboro Health Partners with Eon to Fight Lung Cancer
Jun 22, 2021
DENVER, June 22, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Eon, a Denver-based healthtech leader, announces today that Owensboro Health has implemented Eon EPM for lung cancer screening and incidental finding patient triage and tracking to increase the reach and effectiveness of its lung cancer program.
The comprehensive program is dedicated to the early detection of lung cancer, which results from one of two approaches. The first is to screen eligible patients, which is very effective and has proven to reduce mortality by up to 20%. The second approach is to capture incidental findings on radiology reports that were done for an unrelated reason. Considering that 1.5 million incidental pulmonary nodules are discovered each year—but only 30% of them receive appropriate follow-up care—the ability to identify and track patients with incidental findings is vitally important to the program's success. This comprehensive strategy is especially relevant to Owensboro Health's locations.
Kentucky has the highest lung cancer rate in the U.S., and some of the lowest rates for survival and early diagnosis. Initiatives have put Kentucky in the top tier for screening eligible lung cancer patients, but Owensboro Health's dedication to identifying and tracking patients with incidental lung findings is leading the way towards a true stage shift in early identification and treatment. With Eon EPM, Owensboro Health now utilizes best-in-class Computational Linguistics data science models to extract information (e.g., nodule size, lobe, laterality, smoking history, and other pertinent characteristics) from unstructured radiology reports and adds it to the EPM dashboard, saving valuable time. This superior technology also helps serve as a safety net and ensures that incidental findings are captured and tracked, and has an accuracy rate of 98.3%.
In fact, over the 11 months using Eon EPM, Owensboro Health identified 1,025 incidental findings, 12 of which were diagnosed as cancerous and those patients are now getting the treatment they need. The fact that Owensboro identified so many incidental findings shows that the inclusion of incidental patients is creating an extraordinary opportunity for the program to improve its early identification of lung cancer. EPM is also helping the program manage over 2,000 screening patients with automatic submission to the lung cancer registry, saving valuable staff time.
Felicia Troutman, practice manager at Owensboro Health, talks about the impact of using Eon EPM. "At Owensboro Health, our mission is to heal the sick and to improve the health of the communities we serve. Lung cancer screening is a vital part of that mission, and the addition of Eon EPM is making our program even stronger." She adds, "Eon gives us the tools to manage and identify eligible screening patients, increase adherence rates for annual and follow-up diagnostic scans, and improve follow-up care by highlighting incidental findings on low-dose screens. We look forward to continuing our work with Eon and improving the lives of our patients."
Christine Spraker, co-CEO of Eon, elaborates on the partnership with Owensboro Health, saying, "Kentucky is notorious for high lung cancer mortality, but comprehensive programs are seeing significant improvements. By using Eon EPM to manage screening patients and to capture and care for patients who would otherwise not meet screening eligibility, Owensboro Health will improve their outcomes even further," she adds.
Eon is constantly innovating to arm facilities with the latest tools to improve patient outcomes, and is live in over 250 facilities. In addition to EPM solutions for lung, Eon now offers EPM solutions for thyroid, pancreas, aneurysms, adrenal, renal, liver, and breast. Each disease module delivers industry-leading accuracy and precision rates in incidental identification, helping increase patient capture. Eon's dedication and drive are fueled by the positive outcomes of early identification and intervention of catastrophic disease.
About Eon
Eon is a Denver-based healthtech company dedicated to revolutionizing the way healthcare data is gathered, curated, and shared among industry professionals. We are on a mission to ensure the right data reaches the right people at the right time to identify disease early and stop it in its tracks. We believe together we can defy disease.