Author: Paola E. Alvarez, Robert Dejournett, Mallory Glenn, Stephen F. Kry, Jessica R. Lowenstein, Andrea Molineu, Paige A. Taylor 👨🔬
Affiliation: The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, UT MD Anderson Cancer Center 🌍
Purpose: Current IROC Houston practices are often reactive in nature, relying on several manual processing steps to receive and review institution data and distribute credentialing information. The IROC Houston Online User Portal aims to enhance user engagement with IROC Houston services and streamline data submission. By moving site qualification and credentialing interfaces to an online platform, the Portal allows for workflow automation and a proactive approach to credentialing, clinical trial recruitment, and site support.
Methods: The IROC Portal is a secure web-based application that queries and displays site information from the IROC Houston database. Current features of the Portal include output check and phantom history (including downloadable PDF reports), phantom and TLD/OSLD status tracking, an integrated facility questionnaire, phantom request forms, credentialing status tracking, institutional user management tools, and invoicing. Ongoing developments include auto-credentialing tools to automate trial approval and activation.
Results: The IROC Portal is live and user rollout is ongoing. As of January 2025, there are 917 active users representing 1003 institutions (some users represent multiple sites). Beta testing of OSLD online form submission is ongoing with expected completion and full feature rollout during summer 2025.
Conclusion: The IROC Portal is a valuable tool for enhancing QA efficiency and facilitating user engagement. It serves as a central repository for easier access to institutional data, provides easier data submission, and thus also enables faster processing by IROC staff. By providing a centralized, secure, and efficient platform, the IROC Portal supports the evolving needs of the radiation oncology clinical trial community and may enhance clinical trial participation by reducing delays and barriers to trial initiation.