Toronto – May 28, 2020 – NexJ Health Inc., a provider of advanced virtual care solutions for chronic disease prevention and management, today announces together with Extend Health Solutions the launch of their oral cancer medication support program; Cancer Connect PhC at Extend Pharmacy.

Extend Pharmacy is a group of pharmacists with significant oncology experience who have designed a new, collaborative health service model to provide cancer care, education and therapeutic monitoring to patients receiving take-home cancer drugs in the Ottawa region. Extend Pharmacy supports a pharmacist-based referral, consultation and dispensing practice that helps to deliver specialized and individualized cancer care for patients in the community.

NexJ Health and Extend Health Solutions are working together to build a virtual care program, Cancer Connect PhC, including symptom monitoring related to take-home cancer drugs and treatment adherence support for patients, prescribed oral cancer medication. The program, which connects patients to both Extend Pharmacy and Ottawa Regional Cancer Foundation, offers a seamless patient and pharmacist experience on NexJ Health’s virtual care platform. Through the program, Extend Pharmacy provides medication support with expert pharmacists specialized in certain types of cancer, while The Cancer Foundation provides cancer coaching on coping with the physical, mental, psychosocial, and emotional side effects of dealing with cancer. Clients from The Cancer Foundation will be referred to Extend Pharmacy and vice versa, enabling delivery of a people-centered model in cancer care.

Proactive alerts on NexJ Connected Wellness will ensure that appropriate action can be taken if medication or cancer-related symptoms exceed certain clinical thresholds. Patient education on safety around taking cancer medications at home will also be available through point of care education, health library items, and guided workbooks. Additional features offered as part of the solution include medication adherence support, appointment scheduling, secure messaging, video chat for virtual appointments throughout the COVID-19 pandemic (and beyond), and community forums.

“At Extend Pharmacy, our mission is to reduce harm for our patients receiving take-home cancer drugs,” says Jason Wentzell, Pharmacist and Owner of Extend Pharmacy. “Take-home cancer drugs are an essential component of contemporary oncology practice and patients receiving these treatments play an important and empowered role in their own health and care. The Cancer Connect PhC Program supports Extend Pharmacy’s goal to serve as a patient experience-based specialty oncology pharmacy and we are thrilled to be using NexJ Connected Wellness to enable a comprehensive and collaborative approach to community pharmacy cancer care.”

“We are pleased to be working with Extend Health Solutions to offer this oral cancer medication support program,” says Janine Tatham, Vice President of Strategic Accounts at NexJ Health. “Combining the provision of medication support with cancer coaching from the Ottawa Regional Cancer Foundation, this program serves as an excellent example of what people-centred cancer care should be.”

Patients will have access to the program for as long as they are receiving their oncology medications dispensed through Extend Pharmacy or are supported by the Ottawa Regional Cancer Foundation. NexJ Health and Extend Health Solutions will be working together to extend this cancer medication support and symptom monitoring solution to other oncology-focused pharmacy practices across Canada.

About NexJ Health Inc.

NexJ Health Inc. is a provider of patient-facing population health management solutions that deliver patient engagement for chronic disease prevention and management. At NexJ Health, we believe that the most efficient and cost-effective way to offset the rise in chronic disease is to empower patients, with the support of their families, friends, and healthcare professionals, to actively participate in managing their own chronic condition(s). By engaging patients through NexJ Connected Wellness, we help to achieve healthcare’s quintuple aim: improve the patient experience, improve population health, lower the per capita cost of care, increase provider satisfaction, and deliver business efficiency. For more information about NexJ Health visit www.nexjhealth.com, e-mail info@nexjhealth.com, or call 416-227-3700.

About Extend Pharmacy

Extend Pharmacy is a Specialty Oncology Pharmacy located in Ottawa and supports a novel pharmacist-based referral, consultation & dispensing practice. Our vision is to enhance the patient experience and improve the quality of community cancer care through collaboration, engagement and empowerment of patients & care providers. Our professional, clinical and dispensing services are designed to meet Cancer Care Ontario’s best practice recommendations for patients receiving take-home cancer drugs in our community. Our goal is to promote safe and successful cancer treatments for our patients and their loved ones. For more information about Extend Pharmacy visit https://extendpharmacy.com/, email info@extendpharmacy.com, or call 613-260-7890

About Ottawa Regional Cancer Foundation

The Ottawa Regional Cancer Foundation is the voice for cancer survivorship in eastern Ontario, and a leader in our community in providing local residents with increased access to person-centred care through Cancer Coaching, innovative cancer research and a world-class clinical trials program. For more information, please visit www.ottawacancer.ca.