Poster Presentation 2025 Joint Meeting of the COSA ASM and IPOS Congress

Establishing a Molecular Oncology Pathway at Peninsula Health (124854)

Joanne Lundy 1 , Belinda Embden 1 , Gordon Ratcliff 1 , Yoland Antill 1 , Vinod Ganju 1 , Siamak Sakhaie 1 , Helena Zappi 1
  1. Peninsula Health, Frankston, VIC, Australia

 

Background 

Precision oncology is considered standard of care in cancer management. While molecular profiling is routinely incorporated into patient management, at present this occurs across multiple platforms and reports are distributed in a variety of ways. There is no dedicated point of access to these reports in the electronic medical record (EMR), and no formal system to identify results requiring access to molecular tumour boards (MTBs) or familial cancer clinics (FCCs), leading to inefficiencies and potential inequities in local precision oncology care.

 

Methods  

We appointed a Molecular Oncology Care Coordinator in January 2025 to establish the Molecular Oncology Care Pathway.

Aims:

  • Establish a molecular oncology database documenting past and ongoing practice.
  • Establish a dedicated location for molecular reports in the EMR.
  • Establish a Molecular Care Pathway, from request/receipt of molecular profiling, interpretation of somatic and potential germline results, MTB referrals, and access pathways to trials and access schemes.
  • Foster relationships/research collaborations within and beyond existing networks.

Key outcome measures: referrals and uptake of testing, ease of access to results, MTB participation, implementation of targeted therapies, and clinician satisfaction and confidence.

 

Impact on practice

A streamlined process to support clinicians and patients in navigating the complexities of molecular testing will lead to improvements in both quality and equity of precision oncology care. Early identification and testing will allow us to identify and implement targeted therapies and clinical trials more broadly and efficiently to improve patient outcomes. This work is broadly relevant across health services and could inform a new Molecular Oncology standard of care.

 

Discussion:

Early uptake of the program has been strongly supported, with interim results showing an increase in molecular oncology referrals and improved ease of access to reporting. The results of this work will underpin a Molecular Oncology workflow which will become our routine standard of care.