OnCo
ideasIdea

A digital second-opinion network answering community oncologists within 72 hours

Any oncologist could send a difficult case, with the records, to a specialist centre and get a written expert opinion back within three days, free to the patient.

Expertise is concentrated in a few centres; most patients are treated elsewhere. Asynchronous e-consultation (as in Project ECHO and tele-tumour boards) works but is patchy. The proposal is a funded national network with a standard case bundle (patient-held record or mCODE export), triage to the right subspecialist, a 72-hour written opinion, structured recording of the recommendation, and outcome follow-up to measure impact.

Hypothesis
Rapid second opinions will change management in a substantial minority of referred cases and will be associated with higher guideline concordance and trial referral.
Rationale
Second-opinion studies in pathology and oncology find management changes in a significant share of cases; speed and structured data are what make the model scalable.
What would test it
Run the network for one year in one region; report turnaround, proportion of opinions changing management, and trial referrals; compare guideline concordance with non-referred matched cases.
Maturity
early clinical
Who has to act
clinic
Cost to try
Medium ($1M to $50M)
Years to first evidence
2
Bottlenecks it attacks

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