Issue link: https://beckershealthcare.uberflip.com/i/1430054
27 Overview On Aug. 31 and Sept. 1, Becker's Healthcare and hc1 hosted a complimentary virtual summit to bring together healthcare leaders and experts to focus on making precision health achievable in all aspects of care delivery and accessible to all. Additional summit sponsors included Quest, Snowflake and AWS. 4 takeaways from the two-day event 1. To scale precision medicine programs, better interoperability and operational infrastructure are needed. Both clinicians and patients recognize the value of pharmacogenomic testing to get ahead of health issues. However, most healthcare systems don't have the infrastructure required to scale these diagnostics for thousands of people. Interoperability and connectivity challenges also make it difficult for providers to get test results from external labs in the right format. Integrating systems is often easier said than done. "Every time we stand up an interface, it's a de novo effort. That's not sustainable," Jordan Olson, MD, division chief of clinical pathology informatics and quality at Danville, Pa.-based Geisinger, said. 2. Precision health and population health aren't mutually exclusive. Many believe that precision medicine and population health are on a collision course. In reality, getting patients to the right drug at the right dose for the right indication has the potential to improve outcomes for large numbers of people. It's crucial, however, to understand precision medicine through the lens of population health. "Social overlays affect how we communicate with patients," David B. Nash, MD, founding dean emeritus of Jefferson College of Population Health in Philadelphia, said. "When we treat some individuals, for example, we may have to overcome fears of clinical trials and decades of institutional racism." 3. Genomics and pharmacogenomics are only pieces of the precision health puzzle. Other important elements include environmental factors, comorbidities, social determinants of health and ethical considerations. To gather these diverse types of data, clinicians need information systems that go beyond the EHR. Unstructured information like documentation from physicians, nurses and social workers enriches the patient story with goals of care and the patient's health concerns. Out-of-network information is also essential, such as data from wearables and genomic test results. According to Gilan El Saadawi, MD, PhD, CMO of Realyze Intelligence, "The only way we can reach a patient's story is to build a platform that includes all of this information." 4. Team-based care is an important pillar of precision health. The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs has had excellent results with medical home teams consisting of physicians, nurses, psychologists, dietitians and social workers. "If a patient's disease isn't controlled, it isn't always a pharmacotherapy issue. Our providers have a choice of team members to assist the patient and that support team has led to tremendous improvements in care," Anthony Morreale, PharmD, associate chief consultant for clinical pharmacy services and policy at the VA, said. The VA significantly outperforms the private sector on HEDIS measures, due in large part to strong team-based care. To view the full sessions from the Precision Health Virtual Summit on-demand, go to https://events.beckershospitalreview.com/ precision-health-virtual-summit/p/1. To learn more about hc1, visit www.hc1.com. n BECKER'S HEALTHCARE Precision health, population health and the importance of interoperability: 4 takeaways from the Precision Health Virtual Summit