DANA POINT, Calif. and MADISON, Wis., March 28, 2019 /PRNewswire-PRWeb/ -- Leading healthcare digital transformation platform provider, Forte, kicked off its 27th Onsemble customer conference in Dana Point, Calif., marking a full week of deep industry discussion, best practices, and technology education with the nation's top clinical research leadership, administration, and research study coordinators. Representatives and clinical research professionals from the likes of Yale, University of Michigan, Duke University, and Washington University at St. Louis gathered to tackle challenges related to modernizing and standardizing technology for the clinical research industry. Over the course of the week, attendees are learning how Forte is forging a modern, technology-led approach towards organizing and analyzing research and what implications it can have on researchers, research sites, site-sponsor relationships, and ultimately, patient care and disease therapies and treatments.
"As the clinical research community continues to commit to improving clinical trial operations, we're beginning to see how applying the best technology has to offer can benefit patient care and disease research," said Shree Kalluri, CEO and Founder at Forte. "When both standardization and modernization are applied, trial focus can be re-shifted to prioritize participants and on the research itself, versus spending an abundance of energy on operational frustrations. Lines of communication between sites and sponsors are also made more transparent and clearer, giving stakeholders the ability to track progress in near real-time. With Forte's collaborative-centric technology, site-and-sponsor communication becomes more productive, consistent, and participant- and research-focused."
"Forte and its Onsemble event have transformed the way this industry collaborates, improving patient care by focusing on the technology that organizes and powers clinical research science," said Tesheia Johnson, COO at Yale's Center for Clinical Investigation. "For us, it's about building and sustaining a community that can leverage a technology- and data-focused clinical research approach that will change lives."
New Platform Features
In the Wednesday keynote, Kalluri shared Forte's 'inverting the focus' vision: shifting from single-trial-focused research to a site-wide approach for success. As part of Forte's commitment to be the best-in-class technology partner for clinical research, the company is unveiling several new platform features designed to support trusted data aggregation, exchange, and analytics, making the same information available for all stakeholders in order to improve site-and-sponsor collaboration:
- Comparative Analytics
- As data is the central focus of all clinical trials, Forte is supporting data transparency, collaboration and communication with its new Comparative Analytics feature. Comparative Analytics builds on Forte's existing Benchmarks tool, which gives clinical research sites the ability to anonymously compare their performance to the aggregate of sites by looking at factors including study activation timeline. Comparative Analytics takes it a critical step further, by enabling sites and sponsors to engage in data-informed conversations based on site operational data from within the platform.
- Currently University of Michigan is collaborating with Forte and Sponsors Comparative Analytics to develop Sponsor Scorecards where sponsors track trial progress by viewing a dashboard of important metrics. The dashboard is accessible and identical to what research sites manage and see as they conduct research trials, with the consistent data and information ultimately facilitating and informing conversations that move projects forward.
- Trial Data Exchange
- Forte's Trial Data Exchange is an open, secure collaboration and data sharing platform feature that gives sites and sponsors the ability to collaborate seamlessly, share trial-specific data on demand, and structure necessary controls easily for access to regulatory and clinical source data. Transparent and secure connections between site and sponsor for trial data enables stakeholders to track trial progress in real-time and ensure better-informed, joint decision-making is possible. Pilot projects are already underway at Yale, University of Nebraska Medical Center, Moffitt and University of Florida using Forte's Trial Data Exchange solution. Trial Data Exchange will begin rolling out to Forte's customers later this year.
Onsemble's Impact
Forte's Onsemble customer conference is designed to be a collaborative and interactive program focused on identifying emerging challenges and working together as an industry to discover solutions. It often serves as a think tank for best practices, with attendees leaving with actionable best practices, fresh ideas, and a renewed focus on ways to improve research trial management and execution. Attendees have said the following about Onsemble's impact on their day-to-day work:
"Networking with others in this specific space makes the Forte experience that much more rich and satisfying. Knowing what is possible with this system is invaluable, and getting that direction, with honest assessments of the challenges and successes with those who have already gone through the process, makes anything seem possible, and not as scary," said Sandra Johnson, OnCore Administrator at Medical College of Wisconsin. "Knowing I can reach out to hundreds of users all across the country who can help out with questions or challenges I'm facing, and know them from meeting them at these conferences, it's like I have a whole new giant team at my fingertips.
"Having attended numerous Onsemble conferences, these have really evolved over the years. With the leadership sessions and unbelievable willingness of institutions and leaders to share their initiatives, approaches, lessons learned for leveraging Forte products and services, this conference achieves the right balance of theory and practice that are often missing in other programs," said Beth Harper, Workforce Innovation Officer at the Association of Clinical Research Professionals. "Kudos to the Forte team and community for continuing to bring value to transforming clinical research!"
About Forte
Forte is the industry-leading provider of software and services in the critical areas of clinical trial management, clinical data management and research administration for cancer centers, academic medical centers and health systems.
With a strong belief in community, collaboration and standards-based development, Forte also facilitates the Onsemble Community, a customer-exclusive group for peer networking, best practices and support. Twice a year at the Onsemble Conference, clinical research professionals meet in person and discuss the latest challenges and solutions in clinical research.
Forte provides all research professionals complimentary blog articles, eBooks, webinars and more to support continuous learning on industry topics.
SOURCE Forte
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