Varian Medical Systems, a leader in radiation oncology equipment and software, has signed an agreement with the UK’s National Health Service (NHS) to acquire an NHS-developed cancer care planning tool called the Radiation oncology Planning Online Resource Tool (R-PORT). Varian intends to offer the software to oncology departments globally. R-PORT has been used in the NHS in recent years to help control costs and manage electronic data. Under the terms of the agreement, Varian Medical Systems will add this tool to its extensive oncology services portfolio and develop and enhance it for worldwide use.
R-PORT has helped oncology providers within the NHS network to model change management before incurring major costs, says Steve Laws, Varian’s EMEA regional director of software sales. It also measures the results and costs of change management for reporting purposes. It is highly synergistic with Varians existing software portfolio and builds on Varian’s mission to be a partner for life supporting customers to deliver world class cancer care.
At a time of rising costs, uncertainty concerning reimbursement and increasing numbers of cancer patients, healthcare providers worldwide are seeking solutions to help them deliver better patient care, reduce patient wait times, increase physician and staff productivity, reduce costs of operations, and basically do more with less, says Scott Brouse, Varians vice president of Worldwide Site Solutions. This is a tool that can help in this.
In 2006, in response to the demands of patients and their advocates for better and timelier cancer care, the NHS developed R-PORT as an oncology-specific capacity planning and management software tool. The R-PORT software was tested outside of the UK and was found useful in reducing the impact on patient waiting times through its simulation and resource scenario planning features.
Varian Medical Systems
Palo Alto, CA USA