In April, 2020, the National Cancer Institute (NCI) asked the University of Wisconsin (UW) to extend an invitation to cancer centers participating in the Cancer Center Cessation Initiative (C3I), as well as other health systems heavily impacted by COVID, to participate in a study to better understand outcomes of all COVID patients in their health system. They’re doing so by using electronic health records (EHR) data.
Known as the COVID EHR Cohort at the University of Wisconsin (CEC-UW), its goals are to:
- Evaluate how demographic, medical history (including smoking and cancer history), and clinical course are related to COVID severity.
- Leverage EHR data to identify how to predict COVID severity.
- Develop a brief but powerful algorithm that predicts COVID severity.
This builds on the UW’s expertise and national leadership in tobacco control, cancer prevention, and EHR integration.