User-centered design and agile development of a novel mobile health application and clinician dashboard to support the collection and reporting of patient-reported outcomes for breast cancer care

OBJECTIVES: There is a need for advancements in health information technology that will transform how patient-reported outcomes (PRO) data are collected, reported, and used in breast cancer care. The objective of this study was to develop an innovative and customizable platform, called imPROVE to support PRO uptake in breast cancer care. DESIGN: User-centered design and agile development were employed. Recurrent stakeholder meetings with experts in the field of breast cancer care, in-depth one-on-one qualitative interviews with a clinical sample of patients with breast cancer, and focus groups with Dana-Farber/Harvard Cancer Center (DF/HCC) Breast Cancer Advisory Group members, were used to elicit feedback for the design features and functions of a patient mobile application and clinician dashboard. SETTING: This study was conducted at two academic hospitals in the USA. PARTICIPANTS: Participants included experts in the field of breast cancer care, value-based healthcare, and health information technology, a clinical sample of patients with breast cancer, and members of the DF/HCC Breast Cancer Advisory Group. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: imPROVE incorporates the International Consortium for Health Outcomes Measurement (ICHOM) breast cancer standard outcome set as well as the complete BREAST-Q Breast Cancer Module. RESULTS: Feedback was elicited from eight stakeholder meetings (n=28 members), interviews with a clinical sample of patients (n=28), and two focus groups with members of the DF/HCC Breast Cancer Advisory Group (n=17 members in each focus group). Participant feedback led to the development of a patient mobile application consisting of five components (myCare, myStory, myResources, myCommunity, and myNotes) and a clinician dashboard that includes an overview table and individual patient profiles with data displays. CONCLUSIONS: imPROVE has the potential to transform the way we deliver care to patients. Developed from best practices in user-centered design, agile development, and qualitative methods; imPROVE addresses the needs of multiple stakeholders, including patients, clinicians, healthcare administrators, and researchers.