Elsevier this week announced its acquisition of Pittsburgh-based Via Oncology, a former subsidiary of UPMC that develops clinical decision support tools for cancer care management. Via Oncology's technology helps cancer centers demonstrate the value of their care to patients, physicians and payers by developing and implementing clinical pathways in collaboration with its network of more than 1,500 cancer care providers.

Elsevier’s acquisition comes during the same week that Change Healthcare bought National Decision Support Company for its cloud computing services and technologies that enable evidence-based medicine.

[Also: Change Healthcare buys National Decision Support Company]

The Via Pathways feature evidence-based content developed by committees of leading oncologists, helping with development of clinical algorithms to help treat 95 percent of cancer types. The content is deployed to providers through Via Portal, a decision support tool that's integrated with their EHRs at the point of care.

Via Pathways has 2,000 unique patient presentations, including expert-defined clinical algorithms and recommendations for specific aspects of cancer care, officials say. It also helps with nurse triage and tracking of symptoms, offers cost information analytics for oncologists and patients for shared decision-making and enables easier quality reporting.

"Cancer centers need to provide evidence-based care, reduce variation and manage care consistently across settings," said Kathy Lokay, President and CEO of Via Oncology. "With its resources and world-class content, Elsevier will be able to add more complex logic capabilities and systems integration into Via Pathways to enhance the value and expand usage in the US and globally."

The pathways were first developed at UPMC Hillman Cancer Center in 2004 and commercialized in by Via Oncology by 2009. UPMC will continue to be a Via Oncology customer. Lokay – as well as the company's chief medical officer and its employees – will continue working with the company in Pittsburgh.

With the acquisition, Elsevier will continue to broaden its portfolio of end-to-end clinical support and guidance tools, officials say.

"Elsevier's acquisition of Via Oncology accelerates our ability to support not only the referential needs of caregivers but also the workflow needs of clinicians," said John Danaher, MD, president of clinical solutions at Elsevier, in a statement.

"Clinical pathways integrated into the electronic medical record are key to pushing dynamic, authoritative content at the point of care," he added. "Now we can further support healthcare professionals to improve clinical outcomes through evidence-based care."

Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

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