Behavioral health technology company Polaris Health Directions (Polaris) and MD Anderson Cancer Center at Cooper (MD Anderson Cooper) are teaming-up on an integrated medical-behavioral health pilot project, using the Apple Watch to capture data that could affect the courses and outcomes of treatment for breast cancer patients.

The partnership will leverage Polaris’s Polestar behavioral health outcomes management (BHOM) platform, which provides actionable results for reporting on and monitoring of a patient’s expected treatment response.

“Through this breast cancer pilot, we hope to see even better patient outcomes with the addition of the Apple Watch,” said Tina Harralson, Ph.D., science director, Polaris Labs. “Via our secure Polestar platform, behavioral data captured through the Apple Watch will combine with medical data from the patients’ electronic health records within the Cooper health system and population health data.”

The data collected will include treatment side effects, sleep information, physical activity levels, patient mood, and other inputs.The data collected will include treatment side effects, sleep information, physical activity levels, patient mood, and other inputs, that should help increase patient engagement. And If results of this pilot prove promising, the partnership will pursue a National Cancer Institute research grant for a full-scale breast cancer project.

Under the deal Polaris, will provide Apple Watch Sport device and will develop the app, while MD Anderson Cooper will select a group of breast cancer patients in active treatment, provide personnel and support, and consult on product design and usability within the health network, as well as within patients’ non-institutional settings. Their health professionals will review the data captured and provide patient support based on the analysis of the data.

The project will undergo review and ultimate approval by the Cooper Institutional Review Board.