Pacific Edge announces the launch of the integration of Cxbladder tests within the Electronic Medical Records (EMR) system of Kaiser Permanente.

The integration, which has gone live within all 15 urology medical centers of the Southern California Permanente Medical Group (Kaiser Permanente SoCal), is a significant improvement to patient access for Cxbladder with sample collection at Kaiser facilities and offers electronic management of test ordering and resulting for simpler patient care.

Starting today, Kaiser Permanente urologists can now electronically order Cxbladder Triage for patients referred for hematuria evaluation and Cxbladder Monitor for those under surveillance for the recurrence of bladder cancer, according to a standardized clinical pathway agreed by Kaiser Permanente SoCal’s Urology Section Chiefs. Results are returned directly to a patient’s EMR.

Following a test ordered through the EMR, patients will be able to have their urine samples collected at 29 separate facilities where Kaiser Permanente staff are being trained on sample collection and stabilization to ensure samples received in the lab are of the highest quality. Additionally, Cxbladder urine collection kits will be stored at each of these facilities and managed by site-specific logistics and restocking processes to optimize needs-based availability of Cxbladder kits for optimized operations.

Kaiser Permanente is the largest integrated healthcare provider in the US, serving 12.6 million members, which equates to approximately 3.7% of the population. Kaiser Permanente’s Southern California region is the largest region by membership and manages the care for approximately 37% of all patients managed by the health plan. In aggregate Kaiser Permanente SoCal’s urology team conducts ~25,000 cystoscopies each year across the relevant hematuria evaluation and bladder cancer surveillance clinical pathways.

The integration of Cxbladder into these pathways, according to a Kaiser Permanente study, could allow the organization to safely avoid more than 70% of these examinations, saving money and sparing patients from the risks and discomfort of the invasive procedure¹.

Pacific Edge Chief Executive Dr Peter Meintjes says: “We are excited to have completed this important partnership together with Kaiser Permanente – a project that spanned many teams and many person-hours across the Kaiser system, our team in the US, and our team in New Zealand. The patients of Kaiser Permanente SoCal will be among the first in the US to benefit from a standardized clinical approach to hematuria evaluation and monitoring for the recurrence of bladder cancer.”

Dr Meintjes noted that this milestone indicates the commitment to a standard clinical pathway and represents a significant opportunity to optimize the evaluation and management of bladder cancer.

Dr Eugene Rhee, MD MBA, National Chair of Urology for Kaiser Permanente and Regional Chief of Urology for The Southern California Permanente Medical Group, said Cxbladder tests have greatly improved Kaiser Permanente’s ability to safely work up and provide surveillance to a highly vulnerable population of patients. 

“In addition, these tests have improved access to urology care. The very high negative predictive value of the Cxbladder tests have allowed us to improve access by safely reducing overwhelming demand for hematuria evaluation and surveillance cystoscopy. It’s proven to be a quadruple win: convenient and preferred by our members, high quality - reliable results, adding additional capacity for the organization, and a sustainable way to improve the wellbeing of our healthcare teams," Dr Rhee said.

“For our members this means fewer invasive, uncomfortable, and time-consuming cystoscopies and timely and efficient diagnosis. With the system integration complete we are now well positioned to roll out Cxbladder tests across our network. We are delighted with the way the Kaiser Permanente and Pacific Edge teams have worked together and look forward to building on this relationship in the future.”

¹ AUA, LUGPA, AACU Joint Response to Novitas DL 39365.