Abstract
Background: The University of Kentucky Markey Cancer Center developed the data gathering and visualization platform Cancer InFocus (CIF) as a solution for cancer center catchment area surveillance. CIF was released in June 2022 and made available for use to other institutions through a no‐cost licensing agreement. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the impact CIF has had on cancer centers since its release.
Methods: The authors adapted an existing management evaluation framework to assess the impact of CIF across three spheres—idea dissemination, product engagement, and adopter satisfaction. This assessment included an online survey administered between the dates of September 18, 2023 and June 22, 2024 among 28 individuals at 13 CIF adopting institutions.
Results: As of October 2024, the ideas and approaches of CIF had been disseminated with national audiences 13 times and featured in one peer‐reviewed publication. Thirty‐five institutions, including 26 National Cancer Institute–Designated Cancer Centers, had engaged in licensing CIF. In a user satisfaction survey among adopting institutions, a majority of individuals indicated they were gathering more data (91.7%) and requiring less effort to disseminate data (72.0%) using CIF than under their previous methods.
Conclusions: CIF has demonstrated a broad and positive impact on cancer center catchment area surveillance in the 2 years since its release. CIF represents a high value, low‐cost option for cancer centers wanting to build a cancer surveillance dashboard. The framework used for evaluating CIF's impact can be adapted to assess the impact of other open‐source software built and distributed by cancer centers.
Document Type
Article
Publication Date
1-2025
Digital Object Identifier (DOI)
https://doi.org/10.1002/cncr.35710
Funding Information
National Cancer Institute, Grant/Award Number: P30CA177558
Repository Citation
Burus, Todd; McAfee, Caree R.; Wilhite, Natalie P.; and Hull, Pamela C., "Measuring the impact of a catchment area surveillance tool on cancer center adopters" (2025). Markey Cancer Center Faculty Publications. 440.
https://uknowledge.uky.edu/markey_facpub/440
Notes/Citation Information
This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution‐NonCommercial License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited and is not used for commercial purposes. © 2025 The Author(s). Cancer published by Wiley Periodicals LLC on behalf of American Cancer Society.