The Role of Real-World Data in Advancing Value-Based Cancer Care: CK Wang, MD

Real-world data is playing an increasingly critical role in advancing value-based care, particularly in oncology, where traditional clinical trials often fail to capture the full picture of patient experiences and care delivery. In this interview, CK Wang, MD, a hematologist-oncologist and the chief medical officer of COTA, discusses how real-world insights help identify disparities and gaps in cancer care, support more equitable outcomes, and empower stakeholders across the health care system.

This transcript has been lightly edited; captions were auto-generated.

Transcript

How does real-world data help reveal patterns or gaps in cancer care that may not be visible in clinical trials?

One of the most powerful aspects of real-world data is the fact that it has the ability to reflect the care that is given on a day-to-day basis across all areas of the country. Clinical trials serve as the gold standard by which drugs and therapies are approved. However, they enroll a very specific group of patients; they're typically patients with access to clinical trials, first and foremost. They typically tend to be younger, healthier, and clinical trials only study a very specific question. Whereas from the real world, we can see how care is given to any patients of any race, located anywhere in the country, and we can compare how their care is or how their care may vary according to where they live, and therefore the associated outcomes as well. It's an extremely powerful tool for us to understand the real, day-to-day experiences that patients are facing, and it gives us tremendous insight into how cancer specialists are taking care of patients and whether or not the care follows our guidelines.

Can you discuss COTA’s mission and what drove the focus on using real-world data to support different aspects of health care?

COTA was initially founded a little bit over 12 years ago with the understanding that arming providers with insights into their own care patterns can help better equip them as they navigate what, back then, seemed to be this ever-evolving field of value-based care. That was the initial founding promise of COTA—the fact that data can empower providers. However, through time, what we have learned and what we have seen is the fact that this type of data can be valuable to everybody in the health care sector, whether it is providers, to payers, to the FDA trying to understand whether or not the drugs that they approved are actually being used the way that they're supposed to be used—even to patients trying to understand whether their care is appropriate to a patient like themselves. We have found that through the years, the demand for real-world data continues to increase and that the value is tremendous to everyone that is involved in the health care continuum.

Watch part 1 and part 2 of this interview.