French cancer center achieves data security and cost predictability with Elekta Axis Cloud
Centre de Haute Energie becomes the first in France to move to secure cloud environment designed specifically for Elekta oncology software
Seeing the cloud as essential to the future of oncology care, Centre de Haute Energie (CHE) integrated Elekta Axis Cloud into its clinical practice to achieve greater data security, operational continuity, and cost predictability. CHE provides oncology care across five locations in France, treating about 1,400 patients annually. The center has two Elekta Versa HD™ systems and boasts France’s first Elekta Harmony, a system designed for maximum productivity, precision, and versatility.
CHE is also a long-time MOSAIQ® user, adopting the oncology EHR more than 12 years ago. “We worked with Elekta to give feedback on MOSAIQ in the beginning because we felt it was the future of radiation oncology,” says Prof. René-Jean Bensadoun, Chairman of CHE.
“The cloud is the solution. It brings all our machines and software together, protecting our data and system performance.”
“The cloud is the solution,” he adds, speaking of Elekta Axis Cloud. "It brings all our machines and software together, protecting our data and system performance. Everyone in our department is aware of the benefits of this evolution to the cloud.”
The implementation of Axis at CHE took just six months, going live in November 2023. Close collaboration and communication between CHE, Elekta, and CHE’s IT partner, AzurInfo, made the implementation a true team effort. “The process went extremely well. The three teams were very engaged, and all contributed to the success of this deployment,” notes Prof. Bensadoun. “The mindset of the people and the way they collaborated on the project was at least as important as the solution itself.”
“The partnership was the best,” adds Eric Warlop, CHE IT Manager, AzurInfo. “We moved forward as one team. Our role as the IT company was to be onsite at the center, but Elekta’s upgrade team was available whenever we needed them.”
Training on Axis took just a few weeks, with the CHE team quickly adjusting to the cloud-based environment. “The user experience of Elekta’s software is the same in the cloud as on-premises, so it’s not a big change for the end users,” Warlop remarks.
Axis simplifies and enhances CHE’s IT environment
Warlop notes the common misperception in France that moving to the cloud is costly. However, because Axis is a managed hosting service, IT expenses are more predictable, and technology management is simplified.
“The cloud is a new idea in France,” comments Warlop. “We have to move to the cloud as an industry for proactive support, backup, security, and data protection.”
Axis is built on Microsoft Azure, which means CHE’s data is protected by robust data security features, including multilayer threat protection and automated security detection and response provided by Microsoft and augmented by the Axis security team. Axis also gives CHE assurance of built-in system compliance features to conform to French and European Union data sovereignty and privacy regulations.
“As the IT company, we see the data is now on Microsoft Azure infrastructure,” Warlop remarks. “We no longer verify and backup data because Axis has 24/7 compliance monitoring, proactive support, backup, and disaster recovery.”
CHE recently transitioned to Elekta ONE, a Software as a service (SaaS) subscription offering designed specifically for Elekta software and securely hosted in Axis. SaaS makes it simpler for care teams and administrators to share and collaborate successfully. Cloud-based connectivity enables teams to have all the software tools they need at their fingertips and immediate access to Elekta ONE OIS powered by MOSAIQ helps inform care teams and enhance decision-making. With cloud hosting, it’s easier than ever to support, upgrade, and implement new software so that CHE is always working on the latest solutions.
A recent Elekta ONE OIS upgrade is enhancing patient care at CHE through greater automation, streamlined software integrations, and template-based standardization. Elekta ONE OIS innovations include 2D image review workspace for easier, more efficient image review and approval; protocol-driven care rules and decision support; and site verification for accurate, efficient, and reproducible patient setup. Elekta’s MOSAIQ Oncology Information System recently earned a 2024 Best in KLAS award for its unprecedented levels of automation and mobility, enabling clinicians to spend more time with patients.
“We’re the first in France to benefit from the latest Elekta ONE OIS developments,” notes Prof. Bensadoun. “It’s friendly and easy. We kept all our devices and patient files inside Elekta ONE OIS as we did before. We can easily share documents with different colleagues.
“We have the same access from the cloud to Elekta ONE OIS as before, but now it’s much easier to work from home or any location. The move to Axis has taken us a big step ahead.”
“We have five sites, and, of course, we all have Elekta ONE OIS. Before Axis, we had to transmit via fax,” continues Prof. Bensadoun. “We have the same access from the cloud to Elekta ONE OIS as before, but now it’s much easier to work from home or any location. The move to Axis has taken us a big step ahead.”
An eye toward the future
As CHE prepares to move forward with Elekta ONE, the team looks forward to enhanced workflows provided by a unified suite of software products. Prof. Bensadoun also plans to implement Elekta ONE Patient Companion powered by Kaiku Health. The patient engagement solution provides patient-reported outcomes monitoring and intelligent symptom tracking. In addition to being a patient portal, Patient Companion uses artificial intelligence and machine learning-based algorithms to help personalize care and improve workflows.
“My main interest is in head and neck cancers, where supportive care is so important. We just began a new study to follow patients at home. Patient Companion will be an important tool for getting feedback from them about treatment and supportive care,” states Prof. Bensadoun.
After more than 35 years in radiation oncology, Prof. Bensadoun expresses excitement about the future of oncology care. “It’s amazing to see how much radiation therapy is growing in cancer care. We used to think certain things were impossible to treat with radiation therapy, but now we do them. Today, we treat 50 percent of our patients with stereotactic radiosurgery with good efficacy and no side effects. The paradigm is changing in a good way,” he notes.
Learn more about Elekta Axis Cloud.
*Elekta Axis Cloud is subject to regional Azure availability. Elekta ONE is comprised of multiple Elekta solutions, some of which may not yet be available in all markets.
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