One of the next big shifts in patient care will be precision medicine will be"an emerging approach for disease treatment and prevention that takes into account individual variability in genes, environment and lifestyle for each person," as the Precision Medicine Initiative describes it.
For physicians and researchersthis means predicting more accurately which treatment and prevention strategies for a particular disease will work in particular groups of people.
This is completely different from the traditional one-size-fits-all approach, in which treatment and prevention strategies are developed for the average person, with less consideration for the differences between individuals.
What does this mean for healthcare and health IT? A lot of new challenges. Because precision medicine and genomics generate massive volumes of varied and granular data, new approaches to data storage and exchangeand new designs for electronic health records,for example, may be required. Physician education and patient communication are two other areas that will demand attention
Some advanced healthcare provider organizations, such as large academic medical centers,are already well-advanced in their precision medicine efforts. But most providers are still early in the journey, if they're attempting it at all. But many are preparing today for what many think will be the next step in the evolution of healthcare.
This story, focused on precision medicine and other emerging technologies, is the sixth and final installment in Healthcare IT News' feature series, "Health IT Investment: The Next Five Years."
The series offers interviews with primarily CIOs to learn from them the path forward through the priorities they set with their investments in six categories: AI and machine learning; interoperability; telehealth, connected health and remote patient monitoring; cybersecurity; electronic health records and population health; and precision medicine and other emerging technologies. Click here to access all the features.
The six health IT leaders discussing their plans for the next five years in this sixth and final installment in the series include:
Precision medicine has been an organizational priority for UPMC for more than a decade, and it has an ambitious vision of using it to provide better, more personalized care and improved outcomes for patients.
"Through these efforts, we aim to create new insights into the drivers of health and disease to allow the discovery of innovative therapies and models of care, while also lowering the cost of care by avoiding diagnostic delays and therapeutic dead ends," said Kleinz of UPMC.
"As one of the largest integrated healthcare delivery and insurance organizations, UPMC has the scale, capabilities and ambition to lead the discovery, assessment and clinical deployment of impactful precision medicine approaches," he continued.
Dr. Matthias J. Kleinz, UPMC Enterprises
"Our efforts are led by the Institute for Precision Medicine, which was established in 2014 in collaboration with our academic research partner, the University of Pittsburgh."
The mission for the institute is to accelerate translational and clinical research in precision medicine and to deliver the most advanced prediction and treatment of disease, tailored to an individual's unique circumstances, history and condition.
"In this context, we have and will continue to make significant investments in established molecular and genomic tests [and]emerging proteomic, metabolomic, and microbiome assay technology, and drive the discovery of highly personalized precision therapeutic approaches, including cell, gene and regenerative medicines," Kleinz explained.
Investment in deployment and development of novel technologies is an important pillar inunlocking the value of precision medicine.
UPMC has made a number of significant initial investments in the following areas, Kleinz noted, and is continuing to evaluate new opportunities:
"UPMC's leadership strongly supports this vision and already has invested heavily in the implementation of precision medicine," he said. "The appropriate use of precision medicine approaches benefits first and foremost our patients, but also supports our providers as they deliver care across the UPMC system.
"The tangible benefits are streamlined clinical workflows, improved patient outcomes, and the potential to optimize resource allocation and reduce the long-term cost of care," he continued.
"We are dedicated to continuing the aggressive rollout of precision medicine, both through internal efforts and increasingly through creative partnerships with industry, such as our partnership with proteomics company Somalogic."
Sanford Health believes precision medicine will be the future of healthcare, so it continues to make significant investments in this space.
"Leveraging machine learning and high computational power to analyze data sets containing genetic, clinical and socioeconomic data will not only help design the best personalized treatment for our patients, but also will help identify those patients or patient populations that would benefit most from early screening and interventions to prevent disease," said Hocks of Sanford Health.
Matt Hocks, Sanford Health
"Precision medicine will allow us to concentrate our efforts on prevention and early screening, diagnosis, and care that will help keep our patients healthy and thriving for generations to come," he added. "Cancer care and chronic disease management are burdensome to patients, communities and health systems. Concentrating resources to prevent these conditions will benefit us all."
Mobile health is an area of health IT that has been emerging in recent years. The same with remote patient monitoring, which has especially gained ground during the COVID-19 pandemic. Virginia Hospital Center is on top of both.
"Virginia Hospital Center does not view itself as cutting-edge when it comes to technology," Mistretta said. "It considers itself more of a fast, early adopter of new technology it believes may provide an advantage to its patients.
"We are extremely patient-focused, so many of our investments moving forward are going to be in that realm," he continued. "We will be investing in hospital-at-home and remote patient monitoring features in depth, along with other patient engagement functions to empower our population and maintain low-touch care to minimize costs."
Mike Mistretta, Virginia Hospital Center
Mobility is in demand by patients, so connecting through web and app technologies will be a high priority, he added.
"We need to make care convenient for patients and provide care on their terms," he observed. "In our Northern Virginia/D.C. market, we hear about this frequently due to traffic and distance considerations."
Thus the development of pilot programs like the organization's OB Connect, where patients followed for maternity care are issued home equipment, post resultsand are able to skip the office if everything is within expected limits. Mistretta believes this kind of technology will permeate the market.
"These types of technologies will be required to sustain significant growth for health systems," he said. "Combined with the effective use of data to produce appropriate metrics, we should be able to pinpoint more specific markets and what treatments produce more effective outcomes.
"It also is the only way we will be able to meet the significant demands that will be placed on the care system with the shortage of nursing and primary care resources predicted to hit in the coming years," he added. "We simply will not be able to continue to experience the same results and levels of treatment enjoyed today as the population grows and ages without providing increased care outside the walls of our traditional organizational structures."
Leadership buy-in on a different approach will take some time, but with successes along the way (and supporting data to reinforce), healthcare organizations will be able to achieve what will be needed, he said.
Providence pledged to invest $50 million over five years in health equity. Here is a recap of how it invested in year one.
Elsewhere, Moore is concerned with the internet of things.
"The internet of things is it it's smart devices," he said. "We may give our patients smart devices that sit in our care delivery environments, and have the telemetry information, and go into our big data model. Because that's how we're really going to make these machine learning and artificial intelligence models shine.
B.J. Moore, Providence
"We in healthcare say big data, but until you're working with streams of data, it's not really big data, it's just large data warehouses," he continued. "So getting that remote care delivery data is important, like a temperature four times a day, or real-time streaming of oxygen or heart data."
Moore believes the IoT and the streams of data it can provide are things healthcare executives should be talking about more. "It's all about data volumes: The bigger the volume, the better," he said.
Regenstrief is in the process of developing tools and processes to identify bias in algorithms to improve health equity, said Grannis of Regenstrief Institute.
"As AI becomes more ubiquitous, researchers, clinicians, health systems, industry, government and others must be wary of unintended consequences," he stated. "Our research scientists are working on best practices as well as novel analytical tools to regularly monitor for bias in algorithms, a process Regenstrief and CEO Dr. Peter Emb have coined "algorithmovigilance."
"Over the next five years, Regenstrief will be working with individuals and organizations around the world to implement," he added.
Dr. Shaun Grannis, Regenstrief Institute
Regenstrief also is investing in the broader ecosystem required to sustain advanced AI and machine learning methods. In the same way that clinical decision-makers, including physicians and other care providers, undergo regular training updates and certification due to healthcare's evolving nature and potential for bias, advanced algorithms will need frequent updates and certification to minimize bias and or errors, Grannis said.
Frameworks for overseeing algorithms and analytics are nascent.Developing and evaluating approaches to accurately and efficiently monitor AI and machine learning will become increasingly important in the future of healthcare analytics, he added.
"We also are investing in patient ergonomics the application of human factors,engineering and psychology to the design and evaluation of patient-facing technology to enhance delivery of healthcare," he explained.
"Institute scientists are using user-centered design to create apps that help informal caregivers provide care for their loved ones with Alzheimer's and other chronic conditions. Other apps are exploring the benefits of specific diets and brain-stimulating games."
Babachicos of South Shore Health believes tools that assist patients with care navigation will allow for a more improved and directed patient experience.
"These tools combined with the next-generation call centers also known as patient access centers can be accessed 24/7 by patients looking for care options and direct patients to the right place at the right time for their care needs," she explained. "These patient access centers will use multichannel options such as text, voice and chat while allowing patients to perform many self-service functions, as well.
Cara Babachicos, South Shore Health
"These patient access centers might also be staffed by care navigators for a more human connection when necessary," she concluded. "The same centers could potentially deliver virtual visits/consults, as well as potentially manage patient medications and vitals for subscribed patients in the community."
Twitter:@SiwickiHealthITEmail the writer:bsiwicki@himss.orgHealthcare IT News is a HIMSS Media publication.
The rest is here:
CIOs' 5-year plans for precision medicine and emerging technologies - Healthcare IT News
- 001 Jaenisch: Stem cells [Last Updated On: November 29th, 2011] [Originally Added On: November 29th, 2011]
- 002 2011 Summit: Stem Cells, Reprogramming and Personalized Medicine, Rudolf Jaenisch, MD - Video [Last Updated On: December 15th, 2011] [Originally Added On: December 15th, 2011]
- 003 Craig Venter: Understanding Our Genes - A Step to Personalized Medicine | CIRM Spotlight on Genomics - Video [Last Updated On: January 29th, 2012] [Originally Added On: January 29th, 2012]
- 004 'Personalized medicine' gets $67.5M research boost [Last Updated On: January 31st, 2012] [Originally Added On: January 31st, 2012]
- 005 Harper government invests in personalized medicine [Last Updated On: January 31st, 2012] [Originally Added On: January 31st, 2012]
- 006 Statement - Rx&D Applauds Government of Canada for Investing in Personalized Medicine [Last Updated On: February 1st, 2012] [Originally Added On: February 1st, 2012]
- 007 Study Identifies Cell Subtypes For Potential Personalized Cellular Therapies [Last Updated On: May 11th, 2012] [Originally Added On: May 11th, 2012]
- 008 New UConn Health Center Chief Looks Ahead [Last Updated On: May 29th, 2012] [Originally Added On: May 29th, 2012]
- 009 Personalized Medicine - A Global Market Overview [Last Updated On: August 17th, 2012] [Originally Added On: August 17th, 2012]
- 010 Research and Markets: Personalized Medicine - A Global Market Overview [Last Updated On: August 17th, 2012] [Originally Added On: August 17th, 2012]
- 011 Companion Diagnostics and Personalized Medicine Market Report 2012: Twease.org [Last Updated On: August 24th, 2012] [Originally Added On: August 24th, 2012]
- 012 Timothy J. Triche, MD PhD DBRM Retreat 2012 Genomics and Stem Cell Research - Video [Last Updated On: November 1st, 2012] [Originally Added On: November 1st, 2012]
- 013 Keynote Speaker: Daniel Kraft • Presented by SPEAK Inc. - Video [Last Updated On: November 8th, 2012] [Originally Added On: November 8th, 2012]
- 014 GNS Healthcare, Dana-Farber and Mount Sinai Collaborate to Build Computer Model of Multiple Myeloma [Last Updated On: November 9th, 2012] [Originally Added On: November 9th, 2012]
- 015 Nina Tandon: Could tissue engineering mean personalized medicine? - Video [Last Updated On: December 7th, 2012] [Originally Added On: December 7th, 2012]
- 016 Pastor Chui Adult Stem Cell Breakthroughs Continue - Video [Last Updated On: December 19th, 2012] [Originally Added On: December 19th, 2012]
- 017 Spotlight on Genomics: Understanding Our Genes - A Step to Personalized Medicine - Video [Last Updated On: June 2nd, 2013] [Originally Added On: June 2nd, 2013]
- 018 STEM CELLS Groundbreaking Discovery. The FUTURE of Personalized Medicine ? - Video [Last Updated On: February 2nd, 2014] [Originally Added On: February 2nd, 2014]
- 019 Personalized Medicine Bulletin Personalized Medicine ... [Last Updated On: May 19th, 2015] [Originally Added On: May 19th, 2015]
- 020 Personalized Medicine - Articles [Last Updated On: May 19th, 2015] [Originally Added On: May 19th, 2015]
- 021 Personalized Medicine [Last Updated On: May 19th, 2015] [Originally Added On: May 19th, 2015]
- 022 Personalized Medicine Coalition precision medicine [Last Updated On: May 19th, 2015] [Originally Added On: May 19th, 2015]
- 023 Personalized medicine and pharmacogenomics - Mayo Clinic [Last Updated On: May 21st, 2015] [Originally Added On: May 21st, 2015]
- 024 Personalized Medicine - Food and Drug Administration [Last Updated On: May 21st, 2015] [Originally Added On: May 21st, 2015]
- 025 Personalized Medicine - Information and Resources [Last Updated On: May 21st, 2015] [Originally Added On: May 21st, 2015]
- 026 Personalized Medicine and its Impact in the Clinic [Last Updated On: May 31st, 2015] [Originally Added On: May 31st, 2015]
- 027 The Koch Institute: Personalized Medicine - David ... [Last Updated On: May 31st, 2015] [Originally Added On: May 31st, 2015]
- 028 Personalized medicine could mean big business for D.C ... [Last Updated On: June 1st, 2015] [Originally Added On: June 1st, 2015]
- 029 How An Integrated Data Approach will Impact Personalized ... [Last Updated On: June 12th, 2015] [Originally Added On: June 12th, 2015]
- 030 Conquering Cancer: Personalized Medicine Is the Future ... [Last Updated On: June 20th, 2015] [Originally Added On: June 20th, 2015]
- 031 The Promise of Personalized Medicine - Vanderbilt Magazine [Last Updated On: June 27th, 2015] [Originally Added On: June 27th, 2015]
- 032 Personalized Medicine, Targeted Therapeutics and Companion ... [Last Updated On: June 28th, 2015] [Originally Added On: June 28th, 2015]
- 033 Pharmacogenomic Testing Services | Personalized Medicine ... [Last Updated On: August 1st, 2015] [Originally Added On: August 1st, 2015]
- 034 Personalized Medicine and Cancer Companion Diagnostics [Last Updated On: August 5th, 2015] [Originally Added On: August 5th, 2015]
- 035 Enthusiasm for personalized medicine is premature ... [Last Updated On: August 9th, 2015] [Originally Added On: August 9th, 2015]
- 036 Personalized Medicine Conferences | Europe | Worldwide ... [Last Updated On: September 5th, 2015] [Originally Added On: September 5th, 2015]
- 037 Personalized Medicine News -- ScienceDaily [Last Updated On: September 10th, 2015] [Originally Added On: September 10th, 2015]
- 038 Welcome to the Indiana Institute for Personalized Medicine [Last Updated On: October 7th, 2015] [Originally Added On: October 7th, 2015]
- 039 Personalized medicine - ScienceDaily [Last Updated On: October 9th, 2015] [Originally Added On: October 9th, 2015]
- 040 Center for Personalized Medicine | Roswell Park Cancer ... [Last Updated On: October 20th, 2015] [Originally Added On: October 20th, 2015]
- 041 Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai - New York City ... [Last Updated On: August 4th, 2016] [Originally Added On: August 4th, 2016]
- 042 Clinical Pharmacology & Therapeutics - Wiley Online Library [Last Updated On: August 4th, 2016] [Originally Added On: August 4th, 2016]
- 043 Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania [Last Updated On: August 4th, 2016] [Originally Added On: August 4th, 2016]
- 044 Personalized medicine: The way forward? - Medical News Today [Last Updated On: August 4th, 2016] [Originally Added On: August 4th, 2016]
- 045 Medicine - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia [Last Updated On: August 4th, 2016] [Originally Added On: August 4th, 2016]
- 046 University of Maryland School of Medicine [Last Updated On: August 4th, 2016] [Originally Added On: August 4th, 2016]
- 047 Personalized medicine - Bio-Medicine - latest biology and ... [Last Updated On: August 4th, 2016] [Originally Added On: August 4th, 2016]
- 048 Personalized Medicine | Labcyte Inc. [Last Updated On: August 4th, 2016] [Originally Added On: August 4th, 2016]
- 049 Patent Docs: Personalized Medicine [Last Updated On: August 4th, 2016] [Originally Added On: August 4th, 2016]
- 050 Personalized Medicine SFSU [Last Updated On: August 4th, 2016] [Originally Added On: August 4th, 2016]
- 051 NIHSeniorHealth: Taking Medicines - Personalized Medicines [Last Updated On: August 4th, 2016] [Originally Added On: August 4th, 2016]
- 052 What Is Personalized Cancer Medicine? | Cancer.Net [Last Updated On: August 4th, 2016] [Originally Added On: August 4th, 2016]
- 053 Personalized Medicine | Breast Cancer New York & LA [Last Updated On: August 4th, 2016] [Originally Added On: August 4th, 2016]
- 054 Precision Medicine - Food and Drug Administration [Last Updated On: August 4th, 2016] [Originally Added On: August 4th, 2016]
- 055 Personalized Medicine Conference | Medical Events | 2016 ... [Last Updated On: August 4th, 2016] [Originally Added On: August 4th, 2016]
- 056 Personalized Medicine: How the Human Genome Era Will Usher ... [Last Updated On: August 4th, 2016] [Originally Added On: August 4th, 2016]
- 057 Personalized Medicine: Redefining Cancer and Its Treatment [Last Updated On: August 4th, 2016] [Originally Added On: August 4th, 2016]
- 058 Personalized medicine: Precise genomic solutions for disease [Last Updated On: August 4th, 2016] [Originally Added On: August 4th, 2016]
- 059 Genome | What Is Personalized Medicine [Last Updated On: August 28th, 2016] [Originally Added On: August 28th, 2016]
- 060 Worlds Leading Genomics Conference | Global Meetings ... [Last Updated On: August 31st, 2016] [Originally Added On: August 31st, 2016]
- 061 Worlds Leading Biomarkers Congress | CPD Points ... [Last Updated On: September 19th, 2016] [Originally Added On: September 19th, 2016]
- 062 Personalized Medicine - Swedish Medical Center [Last Updated On: November 29th, 2016] [Originally Added On: November 29th, 2016]
- 063 What Is Personalized Medicine? [Last Updated On: November 30th, 2016] [Originally Added On: November 30th, 2016]
- 064 We Just Got Two Steps Closer to Personalized Cancer Vaccines ... - Mental Floss [Last Updated On: July 5th, 2017] [Originally Added On: July 5th, 2017]
- 065 Personalized Medicine Summit Personalized Medicine ... [Last Updated On: July 5th, 2017] [Originally Added On: July 5th, 2017]
- 066 CURE Pharmaceutical & Therapix Biosciences Signs MOU with Israel's Assuta Medical Center to Develop First-in ... - New Cannabis Ventures (blog) [Last Updated On: July 12th, 2017] [Originally Added On: July 12th, 2017]
- 067 Personalized Medicine Extending to Supportive Needs of Brain Tumor Patients/Caregivers - PR Newswire (press release) [Last Updated On: July 12th, 2017] [Originally Added On: July 12th, 2017]
- 068 Targeted therapy and personalized medicine in hepatocellular ... - Dove Medical Press [Last Updated On: July 12th, 2017] [Originally Added On: July 12th, 2017]
- 069 Growing Demand for Personalized Medicine Driving Therapeutic Drug Monitoring Market - Digital Journal [Last Updated On: August 2nd, 2017] [Originally Added On: August 2nd, 2017]
- 070 MedStar Health Collaborates With Indivumed to Advance Precision Oncology Research - Markets Insider [Last Updated On: August 2nd, 2017] [Originally Added On: August 2nd, 2017]
- 071 Biomedical informatics gets a boost with $2.5 million grant - UB News Center [Last Updated On: August 5th, 2017] [Originally Added On: August 5th, 2017]
- 072 Medicine Is Getting More Precise For White People - FiveThirtyEight [Last Updated On: August 5th, 2017] [Originally Added On: August 5th, 2017]
- 073 Ben-Gurion University scholars uncover the secret to personalized medicine - The Jerusalem Post [Last Updated On: August 5th, 2017] [Originally Added On: August 5th, 2017]
- 074 A Cancer Conundrum: Too Many Drug Trials, Too Few Patients - New York Times [Last Updated On: August 14th, 2017] [Originally Added On: August 14th, 2017]
- 075 PRODIGE: PRediction models in prOstate cancer for personalized meDIcine challenGE. - UroToday [Last Updated On: August 14th, 2017] [Originally Added On: August 14th, 2017]
- 076 Biovista expands Project Prodigy collaborations in personalized medicine - Markets Insider [Last Updated On: August 14th, 2017] [Originally Added On: August 14th, 2017]
- 077 Computing cancer - Pamplin Media Group [Last Updated On: August 17th, 2017] [Originally Added On: August 17th, 2017]
- 078 NIH gives nod to Vibrent Health for precision medicine work - Healthcare IT News [Last Updated On: August 17th, 2017] [Originally Added On: August 17th, 2017]
- 079 Global Research Antibodies Market 2017-2022 - Increasing Demand for Personalized Medicine and Protein ... - PR Newswire (press release) [Last Updated On: August 17th, 2017] [Originally Added On: August 17th, 2017]
- 080 The Entire Medical Industry Is About To Change - ValueWalk [Last Updated On: August 19th, 2017] [Originally Added On: August 19th, 2017]