Reply to J. Chen et al

摘要

We thank Chen and Chiang1 for their interest in our JCO Clinical Cancer Informatics article2 about the Minimal Common Oncology Data Elements (mCODE) standard and for sharing their thoughtful perspectives about the opportunities and challenges of applying mCODE in the Asia-Pacific region. As we note in our article, mCODE was developed because of the recognition that that cancer data interoperability is essential for the creation of a learning health system in oncology, with the goal of enabling greater progress in clinical care quality initiatives and clinical research3 The ability to use real-world data—derived from electronic health records, billing claims, disease registries, and other sources beyond clinical trials—to inform clinical decision making and to generate hypotheses for research is contingent on the degree to which the data are complete, accurate, and fit for purpose4 Applying mCODE in the Asia-Pacific region could dramatically expand the global impact of an oncology learning health system by the inclusion of higher-quality, more standardized data from patients in countries and regions of the world that may be underrepresented in cancer clinical trials.