Cancer treatment has become more effective. An explosion in treatment modalities from immunotherapy to CAR-T cell therapy and genomically targeted drugs means it has never been a more optimistic time for cancer patients. Many more can survive cancer today, with treatments that also have much lower side effects. It also means treatment is a lot more complex than it used to be. When a patient is diagnosed with cancer, every clinical decision throughout their treatment journey matters enormously. Decisions need to be made on which tests get ordered, what treatment is recommended, whether a clinical trial is considered, and how symptoms get managed alongside treatment. 

The standard of care that leading cancer centers aspire to is a multidisciplinary tumor board: a structured, multidisciplinary review of a patient's case by specialists spanning oncology, surgery, radiology, pathology, genetics, and more. A collection of experts who examine the case from every angle at every stage of the  treatment journey. Research shows that this kind of multidisciplinary review improves survival rates by over 30%. And yet, access to it has historically been limited to a fraction of cancer patients, including those treated at NCI-Designated Cancer Centers or those with a rare or complex case flagged for additional scrutiny.

There is no reason this should be the case.

This is one of the most important and solvable problems in cancer care. And it's exactly what Color's Virtual Cancer Clinic was built to fix.

Making multidisciplinary cancer care the standard for every patient

Color is the first and only ASCO-certified Virtual Cancer Clinic in the country. One of the pillars of that certification is that 100% of cancer patients in the Color program receive multidisciplinary tumor board review.

Not the complex cases. Not the ones who ask for it. Every patient, as standard of care, not an add-on.

These reviews aren't a one-time event. Color conducts ongoing clinical review at every major decision point throughout a patient's treatment, examining workup and treatment adequacy, symptom and side effect management, supportive care needs, and opportunities for cost of treatment savings. Our process is built on NCI-Designated Cancer Center best practices, delivered by Color Medical's oncologist-led, 50-state medical group, and is a core pillar of our active treatment oncology services to patients.

To make this possible, Color has built and recently expanded one of the most comprehensive oncology expert networks in the country, engaging specialists and subspecialists from Stanford, UC San Francisco, Mass General Hospital, the University of Washington, the University of Minnesota, and more. Their expertise spans breast cancer, GI oncology, cancer genetics, cardio-oncology, gynecology, survivorship, palliative medicine, urology, dermatology, head and neck, early clinical trials, and beyond. Every patient deserves an expert eye, no matter where they live, or what their diagnosis is.

The impact is real

We track the outcomes of these reviews closely, because the point isn't just to conduct reviews, it's to change what happens to patients.

Across all cancer patients Color has supported through multidisciplinary review:

• 95% had at least one change identified to their treatment or care plan

• 68% had a significant treatment change, not a minor adjustment, but a material difference in how their cancer was being managed

• 93% received direct support from Color on a change in supportive care

• $62K in average cost savings per patient, through the clinical impacts of recommended interventions

Color's clinical team implements the recommendations in coordination with the patient's local treating team. Our care team stays engaged throughout treatment, helping implement changes, coordinating with providers, and ensuring follow-through on every intervention.

Better outcomes are also your biggest cost lever

For employers, cancer is consistently one of the highest cost drivers in the health plan, and it feels like there is a need to trade off between cost of treatment and doing right by your workforce. Actually, what we consistently see in the claims data, is that the right clinical oversight leads to significantly lower costs. Evidence shows that high-quality, multidisciplinary cancer management reduces total cost of care by 25–43%. Add to it better early cancer detection, and you can create a structural shift in costs that comes from getting clinical decisions right upfront, rather than managing the downstream consequences of the wrong ones.

Introducing Expert Medical Opinion: Peer-to-Peer Review. Now available beyond the Color Program

Because of the success of our multidisciplinary tumor board model, and because we know not every cancer patient in your population is enrolled with Color, we're expanding this capability into a new offering: a Peer-to-Peer Expert Medical Opinion program available to employers and health plans.

Here's how it works: Color uses claims and prior authorization data to proactively identify cases with elevated clinical and cost risk. These include rare or complex diagnoses, 2nd or 3rd line therapies, off-pathway or high-cost regimens, gaps in diagnostic workup, disease relapse, and other signals that suggest a patient may benefit from additional expert input. Color initiates an oncologist-to-oncologist conversation with the treating provider. This is a collaborative clinical discussion focused on optimizing the treatment decision, managing interventions with severe side effects, reducing avoidable ER visits, and bringing better visibility to cost outliers.

The goal is to make sure the patient is on the best possible path, and that the treating team has the support and expert input to get them there.

And because Color's model is virtual, AI-enabled, and built for scale, we can offer this service at a price point that reflects what it should actually cost to access this level of expertise, not what the market has historically charged for it.

The standard of cancer care can be higher

The gap between the cancer care that's possible and the cancer care that most patients actually receive is wide. It doesn't have to be.

A multidisciplinary expert review shouldn't be reserved for patients at elite cancer centers or with unusually complex cases. It should be the baseline for every person facing a cancer diagnosis, regardless of where they live or who their oncologist is. 

Color has built the infrastructure, the clinical team, and the expert network to make that a reality. And we're making it available to every employer and health plan that believes their members deserve better. You can set high expectations for the cancer care of your workforce, and not have to pay unreasonably high costs for that care. This is our promise to you and your members.