Maple Tree Cancer Alliance: Growing Pains

Karen Wonders founded Maple Tree Cancer Alliance (MTCA) in 2011 as a non-profit organization in Dayton, Ohio, to improve cancer patients’ quality of life through an individualized exercise program. By early 2020, MTCA had enjoyed significant growth, crossing the geographical and administrative boundaries of several hospital networks in the United States. Funding from hospital networks was contingent upon the efficacy of MTCA’s exercise program, which could be established only through ongoing, rigorous data analysis. However, the old way of collecting and processing client data could not adapt to MTCA’s current size; as such, MTCA needed a new solution, and Wonders found herself reviewing four options.

This case is ideal for use at the undergraduate level in courses on information security and management, systems analysis and design, and strategic management for small- and medium-sized enterprises. It invites students to reflect on the digital journey of a small oncological rehabilitation services provider in the United States. Using this case, instructors can ask students to analyze four options for MTCA to manage its client data. By working through the case and assignment questions, students will have the opportunity to do the following:<br><br\><ul><li>Provide examples of personally identifiable information and protected health information in the context of an exercise oncology service provider.</li><li>Understand the meaning of Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 compliance for information security.</li><li>Map MTCA onto the digital journey and the corresponding competency areas.</li><li>Describe factors involved in the decision-making of small- and medium-sized enterprises in selecting a cloud-based digital solution.</li><li>Recognize common constraints and challenges associated with digital transformation at small- and medium-sized enterprises.</li></ul>

• HIPAA compliance, information security
• digital transformation, data management
• SMEs, growth