Jan 27 2009
ITA Partners, Inc. is pleased to announce that Patrick Soon-Shiong, MD, noted research scientist and visionary in medical information technology, has joined ITA's Board of Directors.
Currently specializing in oncology and end-stage renal disease, ITA improves medical outcomes for patients and thus delivers quantifiable cost savings for them and for payers. ITA's medical professionals and patent-pending health information support systems ensure treatment meets latest standards; patients receive correct, timely, ongoing care; and patients and their families are prepared to make informed healthcare decisions.
"ITA Partners delivers transformational services, filling voids that diminish quality and exacerbate costs of American health care," said Dr. Soon-Shiong. "ITA's information technology and disease-specific, expert doctors and nurses have a ground-breaking model that collaboratively joins patients, physicians and payers in the push for quality care. ITA fulfills a vision for me, ensuring that treatment in two of the most costly and deadly diseases is accurately prescribed and followed, side effects are well-managed, and patients have the personalized support they need to receive unbiased, evidence-based information and be empowered to participate in the decision-making process of their health."
ITA Chairman Robert L. Comis, MD, also is president and chairman of the Coalition of Cancer Cooperative Groups. The Coalition represents the National Cancer Institute-supported cooperative groups that enroll nearly half of all U.S. patients participating in cancer clinical trials. Dr. Comis has worked with Dr. Soon-Shiong on several initiatives to promote quality care as a key driver of healthcare reform.
"Dr. Soon-Shiong is determined, as ITA is, to reduce healthcare costs while dramatically improving patient care and medical outcomes," Dr. Comis said. "He is truly a visionary leader."
In addition to his many accomplishments as a physician and surgeon, Dr. Soon-Shiong performed the first islet-cell transplant, is the developer of the first cancer-fighting drug engineered through nanotechnology, and is the named inventor on more than 50 patents. An Illinois pharmaceutical company he started is the sole remaining U.S. producer of a safe supply of the blood thinner Heparin. Today, Dr. Soon-Shiong's efforts are turned more intensively onto the widening gap between the rapid advancements in medicine and the physicians' cognitive abilities to process and interpret such huge amounts of information at such a rapid pace.
As Chairman of the newly formed Chan Soon-Shiong Family Foundation, he and his family are focusing on charitable endeavors that will improve health care in America and the welfare of its patients. His vision is to transform health care from a qualitative practice of medicine to a quantitative, personalized, predictive, preventive and evidence-based medicine at the point of care at the time of need. Dr. Soon-Shiong is on the health advisory board and the President's Council of RAND. At RAND, he supported the development of the Comprehensive Assessment of Reform Efforts (COMPARE), recently released by the RAND Corporation.
ITA President and CEO Eduardo Beruff said the company welcomes Dr. Soon-Shiong as it implements a number of large agreements with all stakeholders involved in the delivery of health care, including first-dollar insurers, re-insurers, third party administrators, pharmaceutical companies, and self-funded employers.
"Payers, patients and physicians value ITA's ability to validate that treatment protocols for patients with cancer and renal failure meet national guidelines and to provide collaborative, personalized support," Mr. Beruff said. "We are delighted to have Dr. Soon-Shiong's wisdom, leadership and energy as we work aggressively to advance the age of e-medicine, during the year in which transformational change in health care is imminent."
Mr. Beruff cites several statistics demonstrating the need for ITA: 15% of cancer diagnoses are incorrect, more than 25% of prescribed treatment plans deviate from proven guidelines, and 45% of patients do not comply with or complete treatment. Similarly, about two-thirds of stage-four, chronic kidney disease patients begin dialysis after a renal emergency. When that happens, they lose the ability to use the best-possible blood vessel access for dialysis, miss the window for early transplant, and can have severe, lasting complications.
"America's medical system isn't structured to provide the intensive, individualized support patients need when dealing with catastrophic disease — and physicians and payers face escalating, unmet pressures at the same time," Dr. Soon-Shiong said. "ITA's independence, deep expertise, and information technology position it to connect patients, physicians and payers in a mission to do what's right for the patient, at the right time, in the right setting and provide cognitive support to all elements of the healthcare supply chain."